How to view clipboard history on Mac

Use the built-in clipboard history in Spotlight

On macOS 26 and later, Spotlight gives you a way to browse previous clipboard items. You may need to enable clipboard results the first time you use it.

1. Press ⌘ Space to open Spotlight.
2. Press ⌘ 4 or select the Clipboard button.
3. Search for a previous item, select it and press ⌘ C.
4. Return to the destination app and press ⌘ V to paste.

These steps follow Apple’s clipboard history guide. Spotlight’s history and settings belong to macOS; Tucko keeps its own history.

Search clipboard history with Tucko

Tucko is a native clipboard manager for Mac. It collects supported copies while running with capture enabled and presents them as visual cards. Use it to find a link from Safari, reuse a text snippet, preview an image or collect references for a project.

1. Start capture. Open Tucko and choose Start clipboard history. Allow clipboard access if macOS requests it.
2. Copy as usual. Copy text, a link, an image or another supported item in an app.
3. Open the shelf. Press ⌥ ⇧ Space from any app.
4. Find your clip. Start typing or press ⌘ F. Search matches text, titles and source apps. Use the arrow keys to choose a card and Space to preview it.
5. Paste it again. Press Return to copy the selected item and return to your app, then press ⌘ V. With Accessibility permission, Return can paste directly.

Search does not use OCR to read text inside images, and it does not search the contents of referenced files. The shortcuts above are defaults; the main bindings can be changed in Tucko’s settings.

Keep useful clips beyond your recent history

Tucko keeps up to 30 days and 2,000 unsaved items by default, subject to its storage budget. Retention is configurable. Save a clip with ⌘ S or add it to a pinboard to exclude it from automatic retention cleanup.

Pinboards

Group related clips, such as links and notes for a project, in named collections.

Text shortcuts

Assign a code such as ;sig to reusable text. Enable text shortcuts and grant Accessibility access to expand it while typing.

Paste in Sequence

Select several cards and paste them into successive fields, one Command–V at a time, with Accessibility access.

Image moodboards

Collect copied images into a moodboard with captions and a colour palette.

You can also summarize, rewrite or translate copied text on-device with Apple Intelligence. These actions need macOS 26 or later on a supported Mac with Apple Intelligence enabled and its model ready.

Can clipboard history recover an overwritten copy?

Only if a history feature captured and retained it. Tucko cannot reconstruct old clipboard items from before it was running, or backfill copies made while capture was paused. Installing a clipboard manager does not recover an already-lost clipboard history.

Are copied files backed up?

No. Tucko stores file references. Moving or deleting the original file, or losing access to it, can prevent it from being pasted. Clipboard history is not a replacement for a file backup.

Where is Tucko’s clipboard history stored?

History stays in Tucko’s app container on your Mac, without an account, cloud sync or analytics. Private clipboard markers and sensitive-text filters reduce accidental capture, but cannot identify every secret. Exclude sensitive apps or pause capture when needed.

Link previews are off by default. If enabled, they contact the linked website; opening a live page does too. Read the privacy policy for the details.