How can we help?
Answers to the things people ask most. If yours is not here, email us and a person will reply.
Getting started
How do I install Copybar?
Get it from the Mac App Store. Copybar lives in the menu bar and has no Dock icon. On first launch it walks you through granting Accessibility permission and choosing your shortcut.
How do I open my clipboard history?
Press ⌘⇧V from any app. You can change the shortcut in Settings → General. Press Esc to close the panel.
Why does Copybar need Accessibility permission?
To paste directly into the app you were using. Without it, Copybar copies the item to your clipboard and you press ⌘V yourself. Everything else works either way. Grant it in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility.
Copybar is not capturing anything.
Check three things. Capture may be paused from the menu-bar icon. The app you are copying from may be in your excluded list in Settings → Privacy. Or the content may look like a password or key, which Copybar refuses to store on purpose.
Sync, iPhone and iPad
How do I turn on sync?
Sign in to iCloud on each device and turn sync on in Settings → Sync on your Mac. There is no Copybar account. Sync needs Premium or an active trial.
My iPhone shows nothing.
The iPhone app reads what your Mac copied, so your Mac must have synced at least once. Confirm you are signed in to the same iCloud account on both, that sync is on, then pull to refresh on the iPhone.
Does the iPhone app capture what I copy on my iPhone?
Not yet, and it is next. Today it shows everything your Mac copied and lets you copy any of it to your iPhone. Saving from your iPhone is coming soon.
I deleted something on one device. Is it gone everywhere?
Yes. Deletions travel to every device signed in to your iCloud account.
Purchases and licensing
Is it a subscription?
No. Copybar is a one-time purchase of $9.99, and that unlocks Mac, iPhone and iPad together through Apple's Universal Purchase.
How do I restore a purchase?
Open Settings → Premium and choose Restore Purchases. Make sure you are signed in to the Apple Account you bought with.
What happens when the trial ends?
Copybar keeps working and shows your 25 most recent text clips. Nothing is deleted. Buy Premium later and your whole history comes back, pinboards included.
The price is going up. Am I affected?
No. $9.99 is the launch price and it will rise to $19.99. Whatever you pay is what you paid; there is no second charge and nothing expires.
I want a refund.
Refunds are handled by Apple, not by us. Go to reportaproblem.apple.com and sign in with your Apple Account.
AI access
How do I connect Claude Code or Cursor?
Settings → AI Access, turn it on, then press Copy Command and paste it into your terminal. The full walkthrough is on the Copybar for AI page.
My AI tool gets a 401.
The token was rotated, or the tool is using an old one. Press Copy Command again in Settings → AI Access and reconnect with the fresh token.
How do I cut off access?
Press Revoke in Settings → AI Access. That issues a new token and disconnects everything using the old one immediately. Turning the toggle off stops the server entirely.
Can an AI tool change or delete my clips?
No. The server has read tools only. There is no tool that writes, edits, pins or deletes, and it is bound to 127.0.0.1 so nothing off your Mac can reach it.
Privacy controls
How do I stop Copybar watching a particular app?
Settings → Privacy → Excluded Apps, then add the app. Password managers are excluded by default.
How do I pause capture?
Click the menu-bar icon and choose Pause, either until you resume or for 1, 3, 8 or 24 hours.
How do I turn off usage statistics?
Settings → Privacy → Usage Statistics. The same screen has Reset Identifier and Export Diagnostics so you can see exactly what would be sent.
How do I delete everything?
Settings → Privacy → Clear History removes your clips. Deleting the app removes the local database with it. If sync was on, clear history first so the change reaches your other devices.
Keyboard shortcuts
| ⌘⇧V | Open or close the panel |
| ↑ ↓ | Move through items |
| ⇥ / ⇧⇥ | Next or previous filter |
| ⌘F | Focus search |
| ↩ | Paste the selected item |
| 1 – 9 | Quick-paste by position |
| ⌘E | Edit an item before pasting |
| ⌘Y | Quick Look preview |
| ⌘P | Pin or unpin |
| ⌘⇧P | Move to a pinboard |
| ⌘⌫ | Delete an item |
| ⌃↩ | Open the context menu |
| Esc | Close the panel |
Contact
Email support@getcopybar.app
We reply within two working days. If you are reporting a bug, it helps to include your macOS version, the Copybar version from Settings → About, and the file from Settings → Privacy → Export Diagnostics. That export contains no clipboard content; you can open it and check before sending.
About
Made by one person, on purpose.
Copybar is built and supported by Jaymin Rajgor, an independent developer.
It started with a small, constant loss: the thing you copied two copies ago is gone, and you go back to find it again. Every clipboard manager fixes that. Most of them also want a subscription, a server, and a copy of your clipboard. Copybar was built to fix the first problem without adding the other three.
- Your clipboard is yours. Everything you copy stays in a database on your Mac. Keys and passwords are refused before they are ever stored.
- It stays on your devices. Sync runs through the private iCloud database attached to your own Apple Account. There is no Copybar server, so there is nothing for us to read.
- You pay for it once. One purchase unlocks Mac, iPhone and iPad for good. Nothing switches off later and nothing renews.