ClipBob Support

The User Guide is at clipbob.app/guide. Privacy: clipbob.app/privacy.

Requirements: macOS 26 (Tahoe) or later. Sync across your Macs comes with ClipBob Pro and needs your Macs signed into the same Apple Account with iCloud on. Apple Intelligence features need a Mac where Apple Intelligence is available and turned on.

Common questions

The shortcut doesn't open ClipBob.

Another app may already use ⌥⌘V. Choose a new shortcut in Settings → General → Open ClipBob.

Where is ClipBob?

In the menu bar, the Dock, or both: your choice in Settings → Appearance. Its menu bar icon is a small flower. If it's set to show in the menu bar and you can't see the flower, open System Settings → Menu Bar and switch ClipBob on: macOS lets you hide any app's menu bar icon there, and menu bar organisers can hide it too. ⌥⌘V opens ClipBob either way.

Something I copied isn't there.

• If the flower is dimmed with bars in it, saving is paused. Press ⇧⌘P, or choose Resume from the menu.
• Passwords from a password manager, and copies apps mark as temporary, are never saved, on purpose.
• The app may be on this Mac's ignore list (Settings → Privacy). Each Mac has its own.

My other Mac's clips don't show.

Check that both Macs use the same Apple Account with iCloud on, and that Sync across your Macs is on in Settings → iCloud. Sync Now in Settings → iCloud fetches straight away. File clips and very large items stay on the Mac they were copied on.

Free the space ClipBob takes in iCloud.

What ClipBob keeps in iCloud stays there until you delete it. After you stop syncing, end your subscription, or remove ClipBob. Open System Settings → your Apple Account → iCloud, manage your storage, choose ClipBob and delete its data. Your clips stay on your Macs: a Mac with sync on turns it off and says why in Settings → iCloud, and turning it on again there sends its clips back to iCloud.

Apps that share your clipboard between computers.

Jump Desktop, Logitech's Logi Options+ (Flow) and clipboard managers that sync put what you copy on one Mac onto the other's clipboard too: API keys and passwords included. They don't follow ClipBob's rules: keys you keep off iCloud travel anyway, and a password can lose the mark your password manager gives it, so it could be saved on the other Mac. ClipBob already brings your clips to all your Macs, rules and all, so turn the other app's clipboard sharing off: in Jump Desktop, open the computer's settings, choose Sharing and turn off Sync Clipboards; in Logi Options+, turn off copy and paste in Flow's settings. For other apps, look for their clipboard-sharing setting.

Why does a copy show up twice?

If you use a remote-desktop app that shares the clipboard between Macs (Jump Desktop, Screens, Screen Sharing) and ClipBob's sync at the same time, a copy reaches your other Mac twice: once through that app's clipboard sharing, once through ClipBob. Each Mac saves what was copied on it, so you see it twice. That's two clipboard syncs doing the same job: turn off clipboard sharing in the remote-desktop app (Screen Sharing: Edit → Use Shared Clipboard; Jump Desktop: the computer's settings → Sharing → Sync Clipboards), and ClipBob brings your copies to every Mac on its own. If you'd rather keep it on, you can add the app to ClipBob's Apps to ignore, but that isn't guaranteed to catch every copy.

A line with a warning sign at the bottom of ClipBob.

It appears only when something needs you, in red only when clips are at risk:

• iCloud is full — new clips stay on this Mac: your iCloud storage is full. Clips are still saved here and sync once there's room. Settings → iCloud shows how much ClipBob takes and opens iCloud's storage settings.
• Syncing is paused — update ClipBob on this Mac to resume: another of your Macs runs a newer ClipBob. Update this one from the App Store.
• ClipBob can't save your history — clips are lost when it quits (in red): your Mac couldn't open ClipBob's storage. Quit and reopen ClipBob; if the line stays, email us (the address at the top of this page).
• Sync is off — ClipBob's data in iCloud was deleted: it was deleted in iCloud's storage settings, on this Mac or another device. Every clip is still here. Turn on Sync across your Macs in Settings → iCloud to send them to iCloud again.

↩ didn't paste.

Out of the box ↩ puts the clip on your clipboard and ClipBob steps aside; then ⌘V pastes it wherever you are. To have ↩ paste for you, turn on Paste directly in Settings → General. macOS asks once for your permission (System Settings → Privacy & Security). If ↩ still only copies, check that ClipBob is switched on there. If you turned ClipBob off there or removed it, turn Paste directly off and on again in ClipBob's Settings → General: it asks for permission again, and ↩ pastes once you allow it.

Pasting asks for Touch ID or my password.

That clip holds something ClipBob masks: a card number or a key. Pasting it as it is asks first; ⌘↩ pastes it masked without asking.

Search can't find something I know is there.

Settings → History → Rebuild Index reads your history again.

ClipBob doesn't start when I log in.

Turn on Start ClipBob at login in Settings → General.

ClipBob Pro

• Plans: $2.99 a month · $19.99 a year, the first month free for new subscribers · $59.99 once.
• Restore a purchase: Settings → Pro → Restore Purchases.
• Manage or cancel: App Store → your account → Subscriptions, or System Settings → your Apple Account → Media & Purchases → Subscriptions.
• Refunds are handled by Apple: reportaproblem.apple.com.

Removing ClipBob

Quit it (the menu bar flower → Quit) and move it to the Trash. To delete what it kept in iCloud, open System Settings → your Apple Account → iCloud, manage your storage, choose ClipBob and delete its data.