The Pocket Paste handbook

A practical path from your first saved clip to reusable templates and a workspace that feels like yours.

Start with one useful habit

Pocket Paste is a clipboard history and text expansion app for macOS 14 or later. Copy as you normally do, then use the popup to find something again. Snippets are the words and templates you deliberately save for reuse.

This handbook follows the current macOS app. Screenshots use demonstration content; the app language and your own shortcuts may differ. The keyboard combinations in the guides are defaults unless stated otherwise.

Your first five minutes

Install and review permissions.
Copy two harmless lines in a text editor.
Open Pocket Paste with your configured shortcut. A fresh installation defaults to Control + Option + Z.
Search for the first line and press Return to paste it into the editor.
Save one phrase as a snippet.

Choose a task

I want to…	Read this guide
Find something I copied earlier	Clipboard history
Narrow a busy history	Search and filters
Keep useful items organised	Pins, bookmarks and folders
Read a long clip or get text from an image	Preview and OCR
Reuse a reply or signature	Text expander
Fill a template with names, dates or choices	Dynamic snippets
Paste several values in order	Sequential and segment paste
Work from the keyboard	Keyboard shortcuts
Change layout or visual style	Appearance
Move data or keep recovery copies	Backup and iCloud Sync
Control what is captured	Privacy and security
Fix an unexpected result	Troubleshooting
Activate or move a license	License and activation

Understand the three places in the app

The popup is for finding, previewing and pasting clips. Switch between History, Important and Snippets as needed.

The snippet manager is for authoring reusable content. Open Settings → Snippets → Manage Snippets. Changes save automatically when you leave an edited field.

Settings controls capture, appearance, privacy, shortcuts, snippets, backup and sync. A setting that changes capture or retention affects future behaviour, so review its help text before applying it.

Keep a safe starting point

Use a small test document when trying dynamic fields, simulated keys or paste order. Optional iCloud Sync and translation have different data boundaries from local history. Read the relevant guide before enabling them.

For help, contact Pocket Paste support with your app version, macOS version and steps to reproduce. Replace private clipboard text with a harmless example.