Copy and paste has been revolutionary for productivity. That may sound bizarre, considering how commonplace it is. Everyone copy–pastes, all the time. But without such functionality, we’d have to start from scratch on whatever we are working on every time.

Your personal clipboard time machine. Paste is the world's favorite clipboard manager for Mac, iPhone and iPad. It stores everything you copy and keeps your clipboard organized across all your devices without skipping a beat. Try for Free for up to 14 days. Paste is described as a sort of Time Machine for your clipboard, because it saves everything and offers robust search capabilities so you can always find what you're looking for.

Instead of starting over, copy and paste gives us control and time. Control to know that once we’ve created something once — whether it’s a passage of text, an entire document, images, videos, music, code — we can replicate it, instantly and easily. And wherever we have an internet connection, we can share those creations or links with anyone else in the world.

When you stop and think about it, copy and paste is remarkable (on a Mac: Command/⌘+C to copy, then Command/⌘+V to paste). The problem is, we are so used to it, so used to skipping back and forth between tasks that once we’ve copied something, if we don't paste it, we can quickly lose it and need to start again. Such a pain! Unfortunately, even the most expensive Macs only have one clipboard.

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How to view and manage clipboard history on macOS

Once you’ve copied something else, what you originally copied is lost. A Mac clipboard is a transient memory function, only designed to hold one item at a time. Once it's gone, it's gone. Clearly, this is a problem, and one that developers have been working on with numerous solutions, known as clipboard managers, appearing over the years. Thankfully, we have a solution we highly recommend to this particular problem with copy and paste history.

Where do you find the clipboard on your Mac?

A Mac clipboard is one of those macOS programs that runs in the background. You can find it and view clipboard through the Finder menu, in the top toolbar. Find and select Show Clipboard to see the last item you copied.

How does the macOS clipboard work?

As a native program, macOS clipboard runs the same way as other macOS operating functions. Clipboard is a basic program, which is why it takes up almost no processing power or space, except for the item it currently holds. Unfortunately, this comes with limitations. You can’t see anything else, apart from the latest item you copied. Once you copy something else, the first copied item disappears.

Gladly, now we have a solution for viewing the little-known secondary clipboard, where you can find your clipboard history.

The Mac’s hidden secondary clipboard

Not many people know that macOS has a hidden secondary clipboard. It’s a very well-kept secret. Select any text and press Control + K to cut it. To paste it in its new location, press Control + Y. Note that this cuts, rather than copies, the text. As this feature uses a different functionality, it won’t remove what is currently on the “main” clipboard.

Universal Clipboard

Universal Clipboard is a feature that was introduced in macOS Sierra and iOS 10, and allows you to copy and paste between Apple devices, as long as they’re signed into the same iCloud account and connected to the same WiFi network, with Bluetooth switched on. They also need to be physically close to each other.

To use Universal Clipboard, all you have to do is copy on one device and paste on the other.

How to view clipboard history

The main way to view your clipboard history is to paste (Command/⌘+V). That will show you the most recent item you copied. But did you know you can copy and paste in the Finder too? If you want to copy a file from one folder to another, for example, you can select it, press Command/⌘+C, then click in the folder you want to copy to and press Command/⌘+V.

You can even access clipboard history on a different device than the one you copied from, thanks to Universal Clipboard in macOS Sierra and iOS 10. To use it, your devices must be running at least iOS 10 and macOS Sierra, have both Bluetooth and WiFi turned on and be close to each other. They’ll also need to be signed into iCloud, since Universal Clipboard uses iCloud to sync data. Then all you have to do is copy on one device and paste on the other, using the usual copy and paste method on each device.

How to avoid clipboard limitations

If you have problems using Universal Clipboard, try logging out of iCloud on each device and logging back in again.

There are a couple of alternatives to copying and pasting.

• One is to use text clippings. These are snippets of text that look like files, but can’t be edited and behave differently. To create a text clipping, select text in any document and drag it to the desktop. You can then drag it onto any document in any application that accepts text and drop it at the point where you want to paste it. You can also drag and drop the snippet directly from one application window onto the window of another — missing outboard stores multiple items.
• Paste is quite straightforward. Think of it as a clipboard manager for your Mac, which automatically keeps everything you’ve copied regardless of the format. You can record all clipboard types, from plain text to images, screenshots, links, and more. Anytime you need, you can smart search through the clipboard history manager, share anything through AirDrop or sync to iCloud, and even access clipboard history on other devices using the Universal Clipboard.
• Rocket Typist is another great app that approached solving clipboard limitations from a different angle. This app allows you to create multiple text snippets for passages you use frequently, from email greetings to PHP scripts. Assign trigger combinations for saved snippets and call on them in any app or environment. Alternatively, you can then paste directly into the document you’re working on by selecting the snippet in Rocket Typist to move it to the clipboard and pasting it the regular way.
• One more tool to help solve the clipboard problem is Unclutter. Designed as an app for storing notes and files neatly on your Desktop, Unclutter features a clipboard manager that retains the contents of your Mac’s clipboard, even after you copy something else. An organized interface makes your clipboard history easily accessible, allowing to find any old item you need to paste again.

How do you paste from the clipboard on a Mac?

To paste something from the standard macOS clipboard, use Command/⌘+V. However, when you are using a clipboard manager like Paste, you’ve got several options for pasting items from the clipboard.

• Drag and drop items from the Paste interface directly to any Mac app
• Select and paste multiple items at once
• Paste items as plain text, no matter the format of the original
• Access and paste files from multiple devices using iCloud sync
• Paste using customized shortcuts for most recent as well as old items
• Allow others to paste your snippets by sharing over AirDrop.

How to fix it a non-working clipboard

The first step when you discover that copy and paste don’t work is to check that it’s macOS that’s at fault and not your keyboard. Select some text in any application, then go to the Edit menu and choose Copy. Then go back to the Edit menu and choose Paste or Unclutter. If that works, the problem is with your keyboard.

If that doesn’t work, trying fixing the issue with Activity Monitor.

1. Go to Applications > Utilities and double-click on Activity Monitor to launch it
2. In its search box, type: pboard
3. When it shows the pboard process, select it and press the X in the toolbar
4. Click Force Quit and then close Activity Monitor

Go to an app where copy and paste wasn’t working and try again. If it still doesn’t work, try using Terminal to fix it.

1. Go to Applications > Utilities and double-click on Terminal to launch it
2. Type: killall pboard
3. Hit Return
4. Close Terminal

Try and copy and paste again in the same app as before. If neither Activity Monitor nor Terminal solves the problem, the next step is to restart your Mac.

How to recover clipboard history on a Mac

The fact that the macOS clipboard only retains the most recently copied thing means that there’s no way to easily view or recover clipboard history. You can, however, use Command/⌘+Z to undo the most recent action and then press it repeatedly to step back through everything you’ve done. Eventually, assuming the application you’re using supports unlimited undos, you’ll get to the point where you pasted the item you want to recover.

A much easier way to recover clipboard history is to use apps like Paste or Unclutter. They retain multiple items and allow you to view them easily in the app, selecting the one you need.

Snippets manager for Mac

Check out the top three best clipboard managers for handling snippets. Grab the handiest one for the job.

How to clear the clipboard

Clearing your clipboard is easy. Either overwrite the current copied item with a copy of something else or, in case of using Paste, delete the clipboard history with a few clicks. However, it’s a good idea to store some items or the whole clipboard history in iCloud just in case you need some of it in the future. Paste or Unclutter make managing clipboard history as straightforward as it can be.

While most Mac users limit themselves to one clipboard item at a time and feel frustrated with every accidental overwrite, you can use apps like Paste, Unclutter, and Rocket Typist — all available in the Setapp app collection — to extend the native capabilities of your Mac and save yourself hours of headaches in the future.

Summary

EaseUS data recovery software is the most effective data recovery software for you to recover lost data due to cut and paste. If you lost important files by cutting and pasting failure error in Windows and Mac, relax and just download this file recovery software to restore cut files with simple clicks.

Everything About Copy, Cut, Delete and Paste

You will often use the Copy, Cut, Delete and Paste actions when you work with your daily files. It is important to understand the differences between them and how they work.

• Copy (Ctrl + C): making a duplicate of the original file, which can be moved or edited without altering the original.
• Cut (Ctrl + X): If the items are inside a file, Cut deletes the content from the screen, but keeps them in memory.
• Delete (Ctrl + D): If the items are inside a file, this operation deletes them from the screen without storing it in memory. If the items are the files or folders themselves, this operation deletes them from the screen and moves them to the Recycle Bin.
• Paste (Ctrl + V): It is used to make a cut or copied item appears again at a specific location.

Cut VS Delete

The difference between Cut and Delete is that Cut removes the text or other content from the document and saves it to the clipboard. Delete removes the text or other content completely from the document.

Note: everything is erased from the clipboard when you turn off the computer.

What To Do When You Lost Files After Cut and Paste

Losing data is a common situation that could be encountered every day for everybody. You may lose your files due to the following reasons:

• Unfinished cut-paste operation. You may lose files due to unfinished cut-paste operation, for example, you cut a file, but you forget to paste it.
• Deletion or format. For example, you paste the files to another drive or device, but you delete the files from the drive or device, or you format the drive or device without backup.
• Your device is lost. When you cut files from your computer and paste to your storage device like USB drive, but then your storage device is lost.

Usually, this is not easy for ordinary users to recover files lost in Cut and Paste. When you are faced with such problems, how to deal with it then? Firstly, you should never put anything new to rewrite the original data, or the data can be gone forever. Secondly, to recover your data, you need professional software such as EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Professional. You can recover your files lost in cut and paste by using it. Thirdly, don't turn off your PC, everything will be gone forever once you turn off your computer.

Part 1. How to Recover Lost Files After Cut in Windows 10/8/7

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Professional, the best data recovery software, applies to any data loss situations such as undelete excel, undelete Word documents, recover formatted files and more. It is very useful to get your data back. You will never be troubled by any data loss problem. If you want to learn the way to recover files lost in cut and paste on Mac, follow Part 2.

Step 1. Choose the file location to scan.

Run EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard on your computer. Choose the drive where you lost files and click 'Scan'. If you lost files were on an external storage device, connect it to your computer firstly.

Step 2. Scan the lost files.

The software will start immediately a quick scan for deleted files, and later a deep scan will launch to scan more lost files all over the selected drive. After the scan, you can use the Filter to quickly filter a specific file type.

Step 3. Preview and restore files.

Double-click on a file allows for a full preview. Finally, select the desired files, click 'Recover' and browse a location to save all the files at once.

Part 2. What To Do If You Are Using Mac

If you lost files in cut and paste on a Mac device, don't write new data to the drive where you lost your files before you successfully get back your files. If you have a backup, you can recover files from Time Machine backup easily. If you don't have any backup, refer to EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac. You can easily recover deleted or lost files on your MacBook, iMac, hard drive, USB, camera, memory card, SD card, and other storage devices. Read on to get more details:

If you prefer a step-by-step guide, you can follow the steps below:

Step 1. Select the disk location (it can be an internal HDD/SSD or a removable storage device) where you lost data and files. Click the Scan button.

Step 2. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac will immediately scan your selected disk volume and display the scanning results on the left pane.

Step 3. In the scan results, select the file(s) and click Recover Now button to have them back.

Bonus Tips: Useful Data Protection Solutions

It's a nice choice to prevent problems before they happen. Here are three useful tips to protect your data:

1. Back up files regularly. The ideal solution recommended for data protection and security is regularly taking a backup of your data. If you, unfortunately, lost your files, at least a data backup will keep you in a better situation. You should back up your data on multiple storage devices like an external hard drive, portable storage device or cloud.

2. Use reliable data recovery software. In case of adverse data loss situations, data recovery software can be beneficial. You can recover any data from any situation with the help of professional data recovery software.

3. Make use of the 'Copy and Paste' method instead of 'Cut and Paste'.

Conclusion

Recovering lost or deleted Data after cut and paste may be challenging but not impossible. With the help of EaseUS data recovery software, you can quickly and effectively recover missing data after the cut and paste failure from Windows and Mac. Besides, data protection is an ultimate necessity in today’s digital world. Keeping a backup regularly can always do you a favor.