How to Copy and Paste Multiple Items on a Mac

Short answer: a Mac's clipboard holds one item at a time, so every copy replaces the last one. To copy and paste several things, either collect them in one place first (a note, or several files selected in Finder) and copy that, or use a clipboard manager. With Pasta, you copy as usual, press ⌘ ⇧ V, select several cards with ⇧-click or ⌘-click, and press Enter to paste them all at once, one per line.

Why a Mac only holds one thing

The clipboard is a single slot. ⌘ C puts something in it and ⌘ V pastes whatever is there now. Copy a name, then an email address, and the name is gone. You can check what's in the slot with Finder → Edit → Show Clipboard; it only ever shows one item. There's more on this in where the clipboard is on a Mac.

macOS 26 Tahoe added a short clipboard history in Spotlight, and it's still there in macOS 27. It remembers recent copies, but it doesn't paste several at once. More on that below.

Built-in ways to copy several things on a Mac

1. Collect them in a note, then copy once

The simplest method, and it works on every Mac:

1. Open Notes, TextEdit or Stickies next to the app you're copying from.
2. Copy the first item and paste it into the note. Repeat for each item, in the order you want.
3. When you're done, press ⌘ A in the note, then ⌘ C.
4. Go to where it belongs and press ⌘ V. Everything pastes at once, in your order.

It's slow when you have many items, but you control the order exactly, and nothing is lost if you copy something else in between. Use ⌥ ⇧ ⌘ V (Paste and Match Style) if you don't want the fonts and colors to come along.

2. Copy several files at once in Finder

Files are the exception: one copy can hold many. In Finder, ⌘-click each file you want (or ⇧-click to select a run of them in list view), press ⌘ C, open the destination folder and press ⌘ V. To move them instead of copying, press ⌥ ⌘ V.

3. The hidden second clipboard: Control-K and Control-Y

Most Mac text fields support a second, separate clipboard. Select some text and press ⌃ K: it's cut (with nothing selected, it cuts from the cursor to the end of the line or paragraph). Press ⌃ Y to paste it back. This clipboard is separate from ⌘ C, so you can hold two things at once. The catches: it cuts rather than copies, it holds only one item, and per Apple it only works within the app you cut from.

4. Drag text to the Desktop as clippings

Select some text, click and hold on it for a moment, then drag it onto the Desktop or a Finder window. macOS saves it as a small text clipping file. Do this for each piece, then drag the clippings into your document when you need them. It's old-fashioned, but each clipping stays until you delete it.

5. Spotlight clipboard history (macOS 26 and later)

1. Press ⌘ Space to open Spotlight, then ⌘ 4. Allow clipboard results the first time you're asked.
2. Select an item and press ⌘ C (or click the copy button next to it).
3. Click where it belongs and press ⌘ V.
4. Repeat for the next item.

So you can copy freely without losing earlier items, but you paste them back one at a time, and the history lasts at most 7 days. Our guide to clipboard history on a Mac covers the settings.

What about Universal Clipboard?

Universal Clipboard lets you copy on one Apple device and paste on another nearby one. It's still a single item, and Apple says you need to paste it within a short period of time. It doesn't help with several items.

Which method to use

How to paste several items at once with Pasta

A clipboard manager removes the extra steps: you just copy, and every copy is kept. Here's how it works in Pasta:

1. Download Pasta and let it run. Copy each thing you need as you normally would.
2. Click where the items should go, then press ⌘ ⇧ V. Your history appears as a row of cards, newest on the left.
3. Select the cards you want: ⇧-click to select a range, ⌘-click to add or remove single cards, ⇧ with the arrow keys to extend the selection, or ⌘ A for every card shown. The footer shows how many are selected.
4. Press Enter. Pasta pastes them together, joined by line breaks, into the app you were in.

Searching first narrows the list, so ⌘ A after a search selects just the matches. Esc clears the selection, and Space previews a card before you paste it.

Paste them one after another, in the order you copied

If each item goes in a different field, paste them singly. In the panel, ⌘ 1 to ⌘ 9 paste the first nine cards directly, and a card you paste moves to the front. That gives a handy trick: if you copied four things, click the first field, press ⌘ ⇧ V then ⌘ 4, move to the next field and do the same. Each time, ⌘ 4 is the oldest of the four, so they come out in the order you copied them. It only works if you don't copy anything else in between.

What Pasta doesn't do (yet)

• No paste stack. Pressing ⌘ V again and again pastes the same latest item, like it always does on a Mac. Pasta doesn't step through a queue. If that's what you need, Paste has a feature called Paste Stack for exactly this; see our clipboard manager comparison.
• Order is the panel's order. Several selected cards paste in the order they appear, newest first, not the order you clicked them. If you need oldest first, use the one-at-a-time trick above.
• Plain text only. Pasting several cards together drops formatting. Links paste as their address, files as their paths, and images are left out. If you select only images, just the first one pastes.
• Mac only. Your history syncs between your Macs, but there's no iPhone app.

A note on passwords

Keeping every copy is only a good idea if secrets are handled carefully. Pasta recognizes API keys, tokens, private keys and passwords in connection strings when you copy them, locks them on your Mac, and never sends or syncs them. Copies from 1Password, Bitwarden, LastPass and KeePassXC aren't saved at all.

FAQ

Can a Mac clipboard hold more than one item?

No. The clipboard holds one item; each copy replaces the last. The exception is Finder, where one copy can hold many files. For text, you need Spotlight's history (one at a time) or a clipboard manager.

Is there a Mac version of Windows' Win+V?

The closest built-in option is ⌘ Space then ⌘ 4 on macOS 26 and later. It shows recent copies but doesn't paste them for you. Pasta's ⌘ ⇧ V opens your history in any app and pastes with Enter.

How do I copy several things and paste them in order?

Without extra apps, paste them into a note in order, then copy the note. With Pasta, paste them one after another with the ⌘ number shortcuts, as shown above.

Does Pasta cost anything?

Pasta is free for 7 days, no card needed. After that it's $5 a month or $48 a year for everything: sync across your Macs, smart labels and search by meaning. See pricing.