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Clipboard history in OS X?

S

slug420

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 14, 2007
140
0
just a shot in the dark here but...does OSX maintain any sort of clipboard history (similar to what Microsoft Word offers)?

Basically I copied something to clipboard and pasted it, then copied something else and pasted it but I am wondering if there is any way to retrieve the first item I copied to clipboard?

Thanks
 
Thanks. I would need ot have had those installed in advance to make use of this history correct?

in my case I am trying to retrieve data I already "lost"....I am out of luck right?
 
Don't know how to recover anything that you have lost already from the clipboard. Doubt you will be able to recover anything but i would install those apps so it doesn't happen again :cool:
 
roger that :)

maybe a hex editor to look through memory....5 gigs of RAM...that would be fun.
 
Get QuickSilver.

Its a great app to begin with. Comes with a window with your clipboard history. You can even drag it to the side of a window and it will hide there, similar to the dock.
 
Switz213 said:
Get QuickSilver.

Its a great app to begin with. Comes with a window with your clipboard history. You can even drag it to the side of a window and it will hide there, similar to the dock.
Click to expand...

+1 to Quicksilver. Just do not set the clipboard to remember more than 50 entries. If I go more than 50 entries, varies depending on how big the entry that I am copying is, it tends to slow Quicksilver way down, which can slow other things down.
 
slug420 said:
just a shot in the dark here but...does OSX maintain any sort of clipboard history (similar to what Microsoft Word offers)?

Basically I copied something to clipboard and pasted it, then copied something else and pasted it but I am wondering if there is any way to retrieve the first item I copied to clipboard?

Thanks
Click to expand...

there is a simple way to do all this - using Mail in leopard or snow, if you are writing any text into an email, then all along the app is backing it up - to find that clipboard bit you dropped three cut and pastes ago just dig through the trashes (there will be hundreds of versions of the email as it saves every minute or so) or just search for one or two of the words you know will be within the text - works like a dream ....
furthermore assuming you have that particular account set to not delete mail in trash until a month has past you can go back a long long way !! - make it IMAP and the same will be true on your mail servers too ...
so in the unlikely event that it was a well thought out email you trashed the other day, GET DIGGIN in that trash bin - good luck !
 
Switz213 said:
Wow, thanks for reviving a year old thread ;)
Click to expand...

*** OKay... now it's an even OLDER thread... but, I have the same question. ***

OOPS... I 'copied' over a previous 'copy' of necessary info I left on my clipboard... any hope I can retreive that older info? Has the Mac OS changed in the past, uh, three years? :p

I have a MacBook Pro--late 2009--still running Leopard (OS 10.5.8) and I never thought to add an app that could keep track of my clipboard history (duh) until I found this thread...

I'm assuming I'm scr:(wed, but, doesn't hurt to ask, eh? AND, I WILL add a clipboard history app after today--any new suggestions?

Thanks all!! Cindy
 
Recover Mail clipboard history

Can you tell me where I go to look at the clipboard history in Mail. I cut content of an email, pasted it to a document in Pages, changed my mind closed the doc without saving went back to my email went to past it back and oooppps I had placed something else on the clipboard - my message content is GONE ..If what you say here works - I will be elated - just don't know where to go to look at all the email saves or clipboard history.. Please help


andyosira said:
there is a simple way to do all this - using Mail in leopard or snow, if you are writing any text into an email, then all along the app is backing it up - to find that clipboard bit you dropped three cut and pastes ago just dig through the trashes (there will be hundreds of versions of the email as it saves every minute or so) or just search for one or two of the words you know will be within the text - works like a dream ....
furthermore assuming you have that particular account set to not delete mail in trash until a month has past you can go back a long long way !! - make it IMAP and the same will be true on your mail servers too ...
so in the unlikely event that it was a well thought out email you trashed the other day, GET DIGGIN in that trash bin - good luck !
Click to expand...
 
Hi Slug420, I see you've posted a bit about retrieving past clipboard entries. I f###d up and some how lost some things 4/5 &4/6 that I had copied briefly to my clipboard to paste into word for word count info. Can I see those clips? I have done little cutting and pasting since then. See Clyppan, jump cut, ClipMenu & inventive.us/cliplite, but cannot tell if they can access history prior to installation or only going forward. Any thoughts you have would be most helpful. Am running OXS Lion. Best, elizabeth.@earthlink.net thank you
 
Hello little said:
Hi Slug420, I see you've posted a bit about retrieving past clipboard entries. I f###d up and some how lost some things 4/5 &4/6 that I had copied briefly to my clipboard to paste into word for word count info. Can I see those clips? I have done little cutting and pasting since then. See Clyppan, jump cut, ClipMenu & inventive.us/cliplite, but cannot tell if they can access history prior to installation or only going forward. Any thoughts you have would be most helpful. Am running OXS Lion. Best, elizabeth.@earthlink.net thank you
Click to expand...

None of the applications like clyppan can retrieve anything from the clipboard prior to installation. OSx does not keep a clipboard history.
 
In the same boat myself

Web forms are a B*tch! I was writing a recommendation and had it copied to clipboard, but neglected to paste it somewhere. The copied a single word and " Oh no!"

I usually would paste into the very handy and free app "Notational Velocity"
this has replaced "stickies"as a note place holder , text organizer. It allows password protection of my notes, plus syncing w/ my phone and a place to locally save text I often copy/paste around.


But this time, I neglected to follow my own advice and must face the painful results!

great thread, btw!
 
I use Notational Velocity, and just did the same stupid thing - copied one word over my clipboard copy of a long webform text.

Still no way to access clipboard history without an app installed?

If so, what app should I install in 2013? I read the recommendations from years ago... :eek:
 
gayle28607 said:
I use Notational Velocity, and just did the same stupid thing - copied one word over my clipboard copy of a long webform text.

Still no way to access clipboard history without an app installed?

If so, what app should I install in 2013? I read the recommendations from years ago... :eek:
Click to expand...

there is no way to access clipboard history without an app previously installed and active.
 
Jumpcut does show the clipboard history before installation.

As far as i experienced, Jumpcut does show the clipboard history before installation.
 
I like CutPastePro, but what can I use on my Win 7 laptop. Don't use it much because it's not a Mac, but comes in handy every so often.
 
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