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Maccy

Computer TechSystem ConfigurationmacOS ConfigurationMac TricksCapturingMaccy
Updated 4/23/2026

Maccy - Clipboard Manager

What It Does

Maccy is a lightweight clipboard manager for macOS that stores your clipboard history, allowing you to access previously copied items. It's particularly useful for pasting content without formatting and managing multiple clipboard items efficiently.

Key Features

Paste Without Formatting

The primary use case is pasting text without carrying over formatting from the source. I've set a hotkey ⌘ ⇧ V so that I can copy from ChatGPT app into Outlook without the contents pasting as an image. Otherwise, I had to copy from ChatGPT into a text document, and then paste into Outlook.

Clipboard History

Maccy maintains a searchable history of everything you've copied, including:

  • Text snippets
  • Images (including screenshots)
  • Files
  • URLs

How to Use It

Basic Workflow

  1. Copy content as usual (⌘ C)
  2. Press your Maccy hotkey (default ⌘ ⇧ C, mine is customized to ⌘ ⇧ V for paste-without-formatting)
  3. Browse your clipboard history
  4. Select an item to paste

Finding Screenshots in Maccy

When you take a screenshot using ⌘ ⇧ 4 or other screenshot shortcuts, the image gets copied to your Desktop and also appears in Maccy's clipboard history. You can:

  • Access the screenshot from Maccy's menu
  • See a preview of the image
  • Paste it directly without navigating to Desktop

Where Files Are Stored

Screenshot Default Location

macOS saves screenshots to:

~/Desktop/Screenshot [YYYY-MM-DD] at [H.MM.SS AM/PM].png

Example:

~/Desktop/Screenshot 2025-11-09 at 7.04.08 PM.png

Maccy's Clipboard Database

Maccy stores clipboard history in:

~/Library/Application Support/Maccy/

This includes:

  • Maccy.sqlite - Database of clipboard items
  • Images/ - Cached image previews
  • Preferences - Settings and hotkey configurations

Accessing File Paths

To get the actual file path of a screenshot stored in Maccy:

  1. Open Maccy menu
  2. Find the screenshot in history
  3. The original file remains at ~/Desktop/Screenshot...
  4. Maccy references this file rather than duplicating it

When to Use It

  • Pasting formatted text into email clients without losing formatting
  • Managing multiple clipboard items while working between applications
  • Retrieving screenshots taken earlier in your session
  • Copying code snippets between documents without formatting issues
  • Working with repetitive copy-paste workflows

Pro Tips

Clearing Clipboard History

Periodically clear Maccy's history to remove sensitive information:

  • Open Maccy menu → Clear History

Search in History

When Maccy menu is open, simply start typing to search through your clipboard history.

Pin Important Items

Right-click items in Maccy to pin them permanently, preventing them from being cleared or aged out.

Integration with Screenshots

After taking multiple screenshots in a session, you can:

  1. Open Maccy to see all captured images
  2. Paste them sequentially without opening Finder
  3. Original files remain on Desktop for permanent storage