Docs · Using Pasta
Using Pasta
Every shortcut in the Pasta panel: open it with ⌘⇧V, paste with Enter or ⌘1–⌘9, preview with Space, and select several cards.
Open the panel
Press ⌘ ⇧ V in any app, or click the fork icon in your menu bar. Your history slides up as a row of cards, newest first. Pick one and it lands where you were typing.
Want a different shortcut? Open Settings → General, click Change… next to Open Pasta, press the keys you want and click Save. The shortcut needs ⌘, ⌃ or ⌥, and keys every app uses with ⌘ alone (like ⌘ S or ⌘ W) also need ⇧ or ⌥. If another app already uses it, Pasta says so and keeps the old one. Reset to ⌘⇧V brings the default back. The footer of the panel always shows the shortcut in use.
Keyboard shortcuts
| Keys | What it does |
|---|---|
| ⌘ ⇧ V | Open Pasta from any app (change it in Settings) |
| ← → or ↑ ↓ | Move between cards |
| Enter | Paste the selected card |
| ⇧ Enter | Paste as plain text, without formatting |
| ⌘ 1 to ⌘ 9 | Paste one of the first nine cards straight away, like selecting it and pressing Enter. Hold ⌘ to see their numbers |
| Space | Preview the card at full size |
| ⌫ | Delete the selected card (Pasta asks first) |
| ⇧ ← → | Select a range of cards |
| ⌘ A | Select every card in the list |
| ⌘ F, or just start typing | Search your history |
| Esc | Clear a multi-selection, or close the panel |
Quick paste
Hold ⌘ and the first nine cards show a number. Press ⌘ 1 to paste the first, ⌘ 2 the second, and so on. It counts the cards in the row you’re looking at: your history, your search results or a pinboard, so you can search, then paste the third result without touching the arrow keys. It pastes just like Enter, following Paste for Me and Always Paste as Plain Text. On Windows it’s Ctrl 1 to Ctrl 9.
With the mouse
- Click a card to select it. Double-click to paste it.
- ⇧-click selects a range. ⌘-click adds or removes one card.
- Hover a card (or select it) to show its trash button. Pasta asks before deleting.
- Click anywhere outside the cards to close the panel.
Paste several cards at once
Select a few cards with ⇧ or ⌘, or all of them with ⌘ A, then press Enter. Pasta pastes their text joined by new lines, in the order they appear. Handy for collecting bits from several places into one list. Press ⌫ instead to delete them all (Pasta asks first).
Paste for Me
With Paste for Me on, Enter puts the card on your clipboard and presses ⌘ V for you, so it lands where you were typing. This needs the Accessibility permission (see Getting started).
With it off, Enter just copies the card and closes the panel. Then you press ⌘ V yourself. Switch it in Settings → General.
If Paste for Me is on but macOS stopped allowing it, Pasta tells you instead of failing quietly. Your card is still copied, so ⌘ V works. See Troubleshooting to turn it back on.
Edit a copy
Press Space on a text card to preview it, then click Edit. Change the text and click Save (or press ⌘ Enter). Cancel or Esc leaves it as it was. The edit syncs to your other Macs, and the card’s label is worked out again from the new text.
Formatted text (copied from a web page or a document) saves as plain text: its fonts, colors and links are dropped, and Pasta says so before you save. If your edit adds a password or key, the card locks, just like copying it would, and its synced copy is removed from our server. Links, images and files can’t be edited.
Plain text
⇧ Enter pastes one card without fonts, colors or links. To always paste plain text, turn on Always Paste as Plain Text in Settings.