Clash of the clipboards

The ability to copy and paste from one application to another was one of the great wonders of the Mac back in the ’90s. But here we are in a new millennium with a spiffy new OS but the same creaky old clipboard. At the very least, the ability to copy more than one item should be built in. But it’s not. So off we go on a freeware safari.

The contenders

I downloaded the following programs for testing: Clipper, Jumpcut, KoolClip and PTHPasteboard. Strangely enough, after downloading Clipper (which is getting long in the tooth but still works) I noticed the release of a new multi-clipboard program called, coincidentally, Clipper. So, what the hey, I added it to the mix.

The two Clippers, Jumpcut and Koolcut have one thing in common: they all put an icon in the menu bar that creates a list of your recently copied text. From there you can choose an item and paste it where you like. PTHPasteboard works in a similar manner except that it uses a floating panel.

Old Clipper

The most minimal of all would have to be the old Clipper. About the only features are the ability to control how many items are in the list and the ability to clear them all. The catch is that you have to first choose the item you want (which places a checkmark beside it) then use Command-V to paste it.

New Clipper

The new Clipper also requires you to choose before you paste and lacks a quick way to clear the menu. The preferences are a little more extensive, with the ability to set the number of characters in the title and the ability to set the length of time it takes to pull an item from the clipboard. It’s not clear, though, why use would want to increase this time.

KoolClip

KoolClip expands on the features of the two Clippers, perhaps at the expense of desired simplicity — although it too requires that you choose before you paste. A search function is handy if you have many items or you’re not sure which one has what you’re looking for. You can also freeze items — a great idea if you want them for recurring future use. You can also quickly clear all the items. If one of your items is a URL, KoolClip will allow you to preview the HTML page when the URL is selected. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get this feature to work. You can also customize eight hotkeys.

Jumpcut

Jumpcut is the only menu bar-based app that pastes items straight into a document as you choose them. From my point of view this is a big improvement, although others may not like this behaviour. The cool thing about Jumpcut is what is known as the sticky bezel. If you click control-option-V (or some other other hotkey of your choosing), a transparent overlay will appear. You can then use the arrow keys to go through the clipboard items and hit return when you find the one you want.

PTHPasteboard

PTHPasteboard may not be so much freeware as crippled shareware. The free program is the same as the paid program, but you get prominent notices letting you know that certain features are not available unless you pay. This is fair enough — we all have to make a living. Some people, though, might find it inelegant.

The program itself is invoked from a preference panel that is installed for you. You can choose how a floating panel of copied items appears and behaves. I liked having it slide in from the right side of the screen much as the same as thriftmac favourite Sidenote. Once it pops out, you find the item you want and click to insert.

The final word

In the end, I chose Jumpcut as best fitting my needs. It has all the simplicity of Clipper (old and new), plus it inserts items as they are chosen — something not even KoolClip with its extra features can do. I also prefer going to the menu bar for my copied items rather than invoking PTHPasteboard’s floating (or sliding) panel.

More information

Clipper (old)
Clipper (new)
Jumpcut
KoolClip
PTHPasteboard

Update

Another one well worth looking at is ClipMenu. It has all the things I like about Jumpcut, plus a slew of extra features accessible via the preferences so they don’t clutter the menu. Unfortunately the developer’s page is in Japanese so unless you know the language you’ll be left to puzzle out how it works yourself.

ClipMenu (The download link is at the bottom of the page.)

Posted March 15, 2008 in

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Comments are open

  1. I have used JumpCut and PTHPasteboard, and currently use PTH. It allows for multiple clipboards and can live in the menu bar if you like. I have one icon in the menu bar with common code snippets that I like to have on hand and a pallete hidden on the right side of the screen for my regular clipboard history. The setup of this configuration is a little putzy, but it serves my needs well. JumpCut is a fine app, but not as many features at PTH.

    Jeff Baumgarten

  2. Todays post over at Mac Kindergarten also has some clipboard magic going on. Something inside Butler (a great launcher).

    Personally, I like not to have a ton of programs open, slowing down my system.

    Robert

  3. I am not sure why, but no one ever reviews shadowClipboard from stupidFish when reviewing these Clipboards. You may want to try it out.

    (http://www.stupidfish23.com/)

    They do not have a free version, but I have always found it preferable to others and well worth the $15.

    Roger

  4. Hi.

    One more option to try is to use the tools built into Butler. There’s a multi-clipboard there, I activate it with ctrl-cmd-v in any app, and I hit a number to paste the desired object into the location. Seamless, easy, and I already use Butler for a bunch of other things on my machine. Why add a program?

    mok

  5. What about iClip? Not free, but does offer a free Dashboard version. The best of all of them, IMO.

    Jim

  6. @Jeff

    You’re right about the menu bar option in PTHPasteboard — I somehow overlooked that option. I’m not sure I like having a flyout menu with each item, though. It looks like the only way you can turn them off is by paying for the pro version.

    Mark

  7. @Roger @Jim

    Thanks for those suggestions. I feel like I have to keep my focus on freeware for this blog or I’ll go insane trying to keep track of all the cool Mac stuff out there — although I do like to mention dashboard widgets from time to time.

    Mark

  8. @Robert @mok

    It’s good to hear about that feature in Butler. It truly is one of the all-stars of Mac freeware.

    Mark

  9. Add my name to the list of people who like iClip. I have been using it for some time and find it invaluable – not only is it a clipboard extension but also saves whatever other snippets you want to save (a feature I use even more often).

    Michael Glasser

  10. PTHPasteboard works through the menu bar and has a ton of different options. I think its the best clipboard manager for the Mac.

    Jake

  11. I need a clipboard extension that not only does the basic functionality but lets me stash clippings into permanent libraries for repeated use, like responses via a form letter, that kind of thing. Any recommendations on something that does both?

    Rick

  12. I came across something recently called ClipMasterCM that lets you do this via contextual menus. In my limited testing, it seemed quite handy. Another one that lets you do this via keyboard shortcuts is called RapidoWrite. The only trouble is that it doesn’t seem all that “rapido” at times.

    Mark





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