How to Copy and Paste Text on a Mac (Every Method)

To copy text on a Mac, select it and press ⌘C (Command-C). Then click where you want it and press ⌘V (Command-V) to paste. To move text instead of duplicating it, press ⌘X (Command-X) to cut, then paste.

If you prefer the trackpad, select the text, click with two fingers (or hold Control and click), and choose Copy. Then do the same where you want the text and choose Paste.

The Mac clipboard holds one item at a time, so each new copy replaces the last one. If you've lost something you copied earlier, skip to getting back an earlier copy.

Select the text first

You can only copy text that is selected. These methods work in almost every Mac app:

• Drag across the text with the trackpad or mouse.
• Double-click a word to select it. Triple-click to select the whole paragraph or line.
• Click at the start, then Shift-click at the end to select everything in between.
• Press ⌘A (Command-A) to select all the text in a document or field.

From the keyboard, hold ⇧ (Shift) and press the arrow keys to extend the selection one character or line at a time. Add ⌥ (Option) to extend it a word at a time (⌥⇧→). Use ⌘ instead to extend it to the start or end of the line (⇧⌘→).

Copy text on a Mac with keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts are the fastest method, and they work the same way in nearly every app.

If you're coming from Windows, use Command (⌘) wherever you'd use Ctrl. Ctrl-C does not copy on a Mac. On a Windows-style external keyboard, the Windows key acts as Command and Alt acts as Option. To remap them, open System Settings and search for "Modifier Keys".

Copy and paste with the trackpad or mouse

1. Select the text.
2. Click with two fingers on the trackpad, press the right button on a mouse, or hold Control and click.
3. Choose Copy (or Cut) from the menu.
4. Two-finger click (or right-click) where you want the text.
5. Choose Paste.
   If a two-finger click does nothing, secondary click may be turned off. Open System Settings, search for "Secondary click", and choose Click or Tap with Two Fingers.

Use the Edit menu

Most Mac apps that handle text have an Edit menu in the menu bar at the top of the screen. Select your text, choose Edit > Copy, then click where you want it and choose Edit > Paste. The menu shows each command's shortcut beside it, which is the quickest way to find out what an app calls its plain-text paste.

Drag and drop

Select text, then drag it into another app's window to copy it there. Within the same document, dragging usually moves the text instead of copying it. Dragging doesn't use the clipboard, so whatever you copied last stays there.

Which method to use

Paste without formatting

Text copied from a web page or email usually brings its font, size, color and links along. To paste only the words, styled like the place you're pasting into:

1. Copy the text as usual (⌘C).
2. Click where you want it.
3. Press ⌥⇧⌘V (Option-Shift-Command-V), or choose Edit > Paste and Match Style.

Apple's apps (Notes, Mail, Pages, TextEdit) and many others use this command. Some apps use a different name or shortcut: Google Docs, for example, pastes plain text with ⇧⌘V. If ⌥⇧⌘V does nothing, open the Edit menu and look for Paste and Match Style, Paste as Plain Text or Paste Special.

Strip formatting when the app has no plain-text paste

If the app offers no plain-text option, clean the text before you paste it:

• TextEdit: open a new document, choose Format > Make Plain Text (⇧⌘T), and paste. Then select all, copy again, and paste into the target app.
• Terminal: this command replaces what's on the clipboard with a plain-text copy of itself:

pbpaste | pbcopy

pbpaste prints the clipboard as plain text and pbcopy puts that text back on the clipboard. It changes only the clipboard contents, not any setting, so there is nothing to undo.

Copy text from a photo, PDF or screenshot

If a PDF has a text layer, you can select its text in Preview like any other text: drag across it, then press ⌘C.

For text inside an image (a screenshot, a photo of a sign, a scanned page), use Live Text. Open the image in Preview or Photos, move the pointer over the text until it becomes a text cursor, drag to select, then press ⌘C.

Copy between your iPhone, iPad and Mac

Universal Clipboard lets you copy on one Apple device and paste on another nearby with the normal paste command. Copy on your iPhone, then press ⌘V on your Mac, or the other way around.

For it to work:

• Both devices are signed in to the same Apple Account.
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are on for both.
• Handoff is on for both. On the Mac, open System Settings and search for "Handoff". On iPhone or iPad, open Settings and search for "Handoff".
• The devices are close to each other.

Copied content stays available to the other device only for a short time, so paste soon after copying. Universal Clipboard works only between Apple devices; it does not reach a Windows PC.

Get back something you copied earlier

Each copy replaces the previous one. To see what's on the clipboard right now, open Finder and choose Edit > Show Clipboard. Our guide to where the clipboard is on a Mac explains this in more detail.

macOS 14 Sonoma and macOS 15 Sequoia keep no history of earlier copies. macOS 26 Tahoe adds a clipboard history to Spotlight; our guide to seeing clipboard history on Mac covers how to use it. On older versions, or if you want a searchable history you can pin items in, you need a clipboard manager.

Use Gubb's clipboard history

We make Gubb, an app that puts notes, voice-to-text, timers and clipboard history in one window. Its clipboard history keeps the text you copy in other apps so you can find it again later.

1. Open Gubb and move the pointer to the right edge of the window. A column of buttons appears.
2. Click Clipboard History. A panel opens on the right. From now on, Gubb records text you copy in any app.
3. Copy text as you normally would.
4. To find an earlier copy, type in Search clipboard..., or use the filter menu to show only Text, Links or Code.
5. Hover over the item and click Copy to clipboard.
6. Switch to the app you want and press ⌘V.
   Other things it does:

• Pin/Favorite item keeps an item at the top of the list and in the Favorites tab. Pinned items are never removed automatically.
• Edit content lets you fix an item before you reuse it.
• Paste to note drops an item into your current Gubb note. Paste All inserts every visible item.
• Gubb keeps up to 1,000 unpinned items, plus your pinned ones, and deletes the oldest unpinned items beyond that. The panel shows the newest 100.
• In a Gubb note, ⇧⌘C (Shift-Command-C) copies the whole note as plain text, with list items turned into "• " lines and links written as "text (url)".

What to know before relying on it:

• Capture starts when you first open the panel after launching Gubb. Anything copied before that isn't recorded, so open the panel once at the start of your session. It records only while Gubb is running.
• It records text only. Images, files and rich formatting aren't saved.
• There's no pop-up or global shortcut for pasting into other apps. You copy the item back from the panel, then paste.
• Everything copied as text is saved, including passwords copied from a password manager, and there's no way to exclude apps. The history is stored unencrypted on your Mac and isn't uploaded anywhere. To remove it, click Clear History. The Keep favorites switch is on by default, so turn it off if you want pinned items gone too.

As of November 2026, Gubb from gubb.net is a $59 one-time (lifetime) license with no subscription, and the Mac download includes a 7-day free trial. The clipboard section of the help center covers every control.

If you only want a clipboard manager and none of the other tools, see our comparison of the best clipboard managers for Mac.

If copy and paste doesn't work

Paste inserts old text, or nothing. The copy didn't happen, usually because the selection was lost before you pressed ⌘C. Select the text again and copy. To check what's on the clipboard, open Finder and choose Edit > Show Clipboard.

Copy and paste stopped working in every app. The background process behind the clipboard, pboard, can get stuck. Restarting the Mac fixes it. To fix it without restarting, run this in Terminal. This clears whatever is currently on the clipboard.

killall pboard

This quits the clipboard process, and macOS starts it again automatically. It doesn't change any settings.

A website won't let you select or copy text. Some pages block selection. In Safari, try View > Show Reader and select the text there. Or take a screenshot and copy the text with Live Text.

The shortcut works in one app but not another. Some apps reassign shortcuts. Check that app's Edit menu for the command and its shortcut. If you ever set a custom shortcut, open System Settings, search for "Keyboard Shortcuts", and check App Shortcuts.

Pasted text has the wrong font or color. Use Paste and Match Style (⌥⇧⌘V), as described above.

Universal Clipboard isn't working. Check that both devices use the same Apple Account, that Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Handoff are on for both, and that the devices are near each other. Copy again right before pasting.

FAQ

How do I cut and paste files in Finder?

Finder doesn't cut files with ⌘X. Select the file, press ⌘C, open the destination folder, then press ⌥⌘V (Option-Command-V). This moves the file instead of copying it.

Does copying something new delete what I copied before?

Yes. The Mac clipboard holds one item, and each copy replaces the last. To keep earlier copies, use the Spotlight clipboard history in macOS 26 Tahoe or a clipboard manager.

How do I clear the clipboard on a Mac?

Copy something harmless, such as a single space, to replace what's there. If you use a clipboard manager, clear its history as well. Our guide to clearing clipboard history on Mac covers both.