ClipboardGrid Documentation

Applies to ClipboardGrid 1.0 · Updated October 2026

ClipboardGrid is a small utility for macOS that shows your clipboard history at a glance. Press a shortcut and your recent copies appear as large cards across the screen — text, links, images and files, each shown as itself. Click a card or press its number, and it’s pasted right where you were typing.

First launch

The first time you open ClipboardGrid, a short guide walks you through setup:

Allow click to paste. To paste a card straight into the app you were using, ClipboardGrid needs Accessibility access. Open System Settings takes you to Privacy & Security → Accessibility — turn on ClipboardGrid there. The guide notices the change by itself. You can skip this step: then clicking a card only copies it, and you press ⌘V yourself.
Choose your shortcut. The default is ⇧⌘V. Click the field and press another combination if you prefer.
You’re all set.

ClipboardGrid lives in the menu bar and has no icon in the Dock. To see the guide again, choose How to Use from its menu.

Opening your clipboard

Press your shortcut (⇧⌘V by default) anywhere, or choose Show Clipboard from the menu bar icon. The screen dims and your recent copies appear as large cards: six (3 × 2) or nine (3 × 3), whichever you choose in Settings.

Each card shows where the copy came from, what kind it is and how long ago you copied it. Text appears as text, a link shows its site and address, an image appears as the picture itself, and a file shows a preview of its contents.

To close without pasting, press esc or click anywhere outside the cards.

Pasting a card

Click a card.
Press its number — the small number in the card’s top-right corner, 1 to 6 or 1 to 9.
Select it with the arrow keys and press Return.

The grid closes and the card is pasted where you were typing. Without Accessibility access the card is copied instead — press ⌘V to paste it.

Tabs: Recent, Pinned, All

Recent — your latest copies, as many as fit on one screen.
Pinned — the items you keep.
All — your whole history.

Press Tab to move to the next tab, or ⌘1, ⌘2, ⌘3 to jump straight to one. When there are more cards than fit, scroll — the grid settles on whole rows.

Search

Just start typing — the text goes straight into the search field and the grid shows matching copies from your whole history. Use the arrow keys and Return to paste a result. While you’re searching, number keys type into the search field; press esc to clear the search.

Preview

Press Space to open the selected card in full: a long text from start to finish, an image at a large size, a file with its preview. Press Return to paste it, or Space or esc to go back to the grid.

Pin, delete, undo

⌘P — pin the selected card, or unpin it. Pinned items move to the Pinned tab, are always kept and don’t count against your history limit.
⌘⌫ — delete the selected card from your history.
⌘Z — bring back the card you just deleted.

A short message under the cards confirms what happened. The same actions are in the card’s right-click menu.

Drag a card out

Drag any card out of the grid and drop it into another app — a Finder window, an email, a chat. The grid steps out of the way as soon as you start dragging.

Keyboard shortcuts

Key	Action
`⇧⌘V`	Show ClipboardGrid (change it in Settings)
`1`–`9`	Paste the numbered card
`← → ↑ ↓`	Select a card
`Return`	Paste the selected card
`Space`	Preview the selected card
`Tab`	Next tab
`⌘1` `⌘2` `⌘3`	Recent, Pinned, All
`⌘P`	Pin or unpin
`⌘⌫`	Delete
`⌘Z`	Undo delete
`esc`	Clear search, close preview, or close the grid

A hint bar under the cards shows the main keys. You can hide it in Settings once you know them.

Settings

Open Settings from the menu bar icon, or with the gear button above the cards.

General

Shortcut — the key combination that shows your clipboard.
Cards on screen — 6 (larger cards, 3 × 2) or 9 (more cards, 3 × 3).
Appearance — Automatic, Light or Dark.
Show keyboard hints — the hint bar under the cards.
Launch at login.

Permissions

Shows whether Accessibility access is on. Open System Settings takes you to the right page if it isn’t.

Clipboard

Keep last — 9, 18 or 27 items. Pinned items are always kept on top of that.
Don’t save copies from — apps whose copies never enter your history. Popular password managers are on the list from the start; Add App… adds any other.
Clear History… — removes your whole history, pinned items included. ClipboardGrid asks before it does.

Privacy

Your clipboard history is stored only on your Mac. Copies from the apps on the Don't save copies from list are never saved.

License and updates

ClipboardGrid is free to try for 14 days with every feature. After that it asks for a license before opening the grid. Buy or enter your license from the menu bar icon; the same menu shows your license status. A license is a one-time purchase.

To check for a new version, choose Check for Updates… from the menu. ClipboardGrid also checks for updates by itself.

Requirements

macOS 14.6 or later. On macOS 26 ClipboardGrid uses Liquid Glass; on macOS 14 and 15 it uses the standard translucent look.

Help and feedback

Choose Send Feedback from the menu bar icon, or use the Contact Us form. We reply to every message.