Paste
Master

Version 2.8
December 30, 2009

Price: $8

Paste Master is an easy to use clipboard manager controlled by a preference pane that allows you to save multiple items that you have placed in the clipboard and be able to paste them again later. It has the following advantages:

Compact grid display allows you to see and select from many saved clipboards at once.
Recognition of common text types in clipboards allows convenient pasting options when pasting data.
You can delete individual or ALL saved clipboards (for example if they contain sensitive data).
You can lock clipboards so they are not displaced by new ones.
Clipboards are also available from a menu in the menu bar.

Paste Master allows you to display up to 99 items in a compact manner, making it easy to quickly find which one you want to paste again. Paste Master recognizes certain types of text much like Apple's Data Detectors, and allows you to paste them in special ways. This feature is very useful when dealing with web or database forms that force you to type things like phone numbers or social security numbers in separate fields, or force you to enter phone numbers with just decimal digits. Furthermore, you can paste clipboards as unformatted text even if they are formatted. This is useful if you want pasted text to inherit the formatting of the application you are pasting into.

Recognition Of Special Text Types

Paste Master allows you to copy a phone number in several different formats and paste them in their current form, as separate fields, or as just digits together. Pasting as separate fields means that tabs are typed between the fields to move to the next field in the form. Thus, a phone number like:

    (202) 345-6789

can be pasted as:


or as:



Paste Master currently supports several types, as shown below. More types and paste options will be added in the future, based on demand.

Type	Examples(s)	Can be pasted

Phone	202-345-6789	As is, as individual fields, or as just the digits
Number	789-456-1234 x5678	As is, as individual fields, or as just the digits
	(202) 345-6789	As is, as individual fields, or as just the digits
	(789) 456-1234 x5678	As is, as individual fields, or as just the digits

Multiple	234-23-0500 (e.g., an SSN)	As is or as individual fields
Fields	xcy-kjy-oiuy-po34 (e.g., registration code)	As is or as individual fields

Multiple	John Woodward	As is or as individual words
Words

All text types can also be pasted unformatted.

Clipboards Grid Display

Here is an example display of multiple saved clipboards that show how the special types are designated. You display or hide the grid with a hot key you designate (default command-/). You can also hide the grid with the escape key.

You click an item or type its number to paste it. Only the first 9 items have a number. If a very long textual item is in a clipboard, you can hover your mouse over item and more of the text (as much as will fit) will be shown. If you hover your mouse over an image, a larger size of the image will be displayed (up to full size, as much as will fit).

Item 2, marked with a , has been recognized as mutiple words, so command-clicking pastes each word in a different field, tabbing in between. This feature would be useful for pasting a name into separate first and last name fields.

Items 3 and 4, marked with an , have been recognized as having multiple fields (like a social security number), so command clicking pastes each field separately.

Items 5 & 6, marked with , have been recignized as phone numbers, so (by default) command-clicking pastes as fields, or option-clicking pastes all digits together.

Right-clicking any item shows you all the options for that item and allows you to choose:

Locking Clipboards

As more clipboards are selected they are added to the grid up to the maximum you specify (1-99). When the maximum is reached, the oldest clipboards are thrown away. To prevent this for a particular clipboard, you can lock it. The visual difference between locked an unlocked clipboards is shown at the right. You can lock/unlock individual clipboards or unlock all of them. Note that you cannot lock all of the available clipboards because then there would be no room for new ones.

Deleting Clipboards

You can delete individual clipboards (e.g. because they contain sensitive information), or all unlocked clipboards, or all clipboards. Note that deleting all clipboards clears the system clipboard, which may be useful as a security measure.

Menu Bar Icon

You can optionally have Paste Master display its icon in the menu bar, as shown at the right. In addition to the functions above the line, each clipboard is listed below the line. Choosing the clipboard pastes it. The modifier keys that work on the grid work here as well (except that control- or right-click is not needed because each clipboard acts as a menu if you want to choose a function that way).

Pasting via this menu works in a situation when pasting via the grid does not. Certain applications that cause you to take some special action to enter input mode may cancel input mode when the grid is displayed. In this case, pasting via this menu should work because the menu does not cancel input mode. As example of this behavior, if you select a file in Finder and hit return, you enter input mode. Displaying the grid cancels input mode, but pulling down the menu does not.

Locked items will be marked with a lock symbol as in the grid on 10.5 and 10.6 systems, but will be marked with a check mark on 10.3 or 10.4 systems (because of a Mac OS limitation).

Shortcuts

Several modifier keys and combinations provide shortcuts for choosing special functions from the above menu. Here are the default keys and their meanings:

Control or Right-click	Displays the menu of all functions that can be performed on the clicked clipboard
Command	Pastes the clicked clipboard as separate fields; ignored if clipboard was not recognized as fields or a phone number
Option	Pastes the clicked clipboard as digits together; ignored if clipboard was not recognized as a phone number
Command-Option	Deletes the clicked clipboard

All of these can be changed (except right-click) as described below.

Installing Paste Master

ALWAYS make sure that System Preferences is not open when you install. To install, just double-click Paste Master.prefPane. You will be given the option to install for all users or just the current one. No matter how you install it, it must be configured for each user separately.

Configuring Paste Master

When you select the Paste Master preference pane in the System Preferences (it is automatically selected immediately after installation), you will see the Configure tab:

The default configuration is shown above. Any configuration changes you make take effect when you enable Paste Master, or--for changes made after it is enabled--when you leave the Preference Pane. If you uncheck "Move pasted items to position 1", items you click on to paste will remain in their current position until you cut or copy a new item, which will always go into position 1, shifting others up by one. You have the option to save all clipboards across reboots or restarts of Paste Master.

The Shortcuts tab allows you to change the default modifier keys that provide shortcuts in the clipboard grid or menu:

The Clipboard Display tab shows a reminder of the meanings of the symbols of the in the clipboards window, and the Register tab allows you to go to the web page where you can pay only $8 for a registration code and enter the code.

Macintosh Requirements

Paste Master is a Cocoa (MacOS X only) application. It runs on 10.3 and higher, including Snow Leopard. Universal Binary.

It is required that the keyboard shortcut on your system to paste is command-v, the common default.

Version History

2.8 - Feature enhancements:

Added support for Dvorak keyboard layout.
Added shift modifier as an option for the hotkey.
Added option to confirm deletions of all clipboard or unlocked clipboards to prevent accidental deletion.
Reorganized Configure tab of Preference Pane.

2.7 - Feature enhancement:

Changed Shortcuts tab to allow custom specification of modifier keys for all functions that can be specified via the clipoard grid or menu.

2.6 - Feature enhancement:

Added preference to keep all locked clipboards grouped at the end of the grid and menu.

2.5 - Feature enhancements and bug fixes:

More of a text item is now shown when you hover the mouse over them item in the grid.
Image items are now shown larger (if possible) when you hover the mouse over the item in the grid.
Images in the grid are now scaled down to fit in 10.6.
Many memory leaks fixed.

2.4 - Feature enhancements:

Added a warning in the preference pane that configuration changes take effect when Paste Master is re-enabled or System Preferences is quit.
Improved support for non-standard clipboard types.

2.3 - Corrupted release.

2.2 - Feature enhancements and bug fix:

Added the option to display an icon in the menu bar to allow for Paste Master control and pasting, as an alternative to the grid view.
The escape key now dismisses the clipboards grid.
Right-clicking a clipboard in the grid now displays the menu, like a control-click.
Fixed bug in entering registration code.

2.1 - Feature enhancements and bug fixes:

Added the option to display all text in clipboard grid unformatted.
Clipboard grid width is now limited by main screen width.
Empty grid cells now have a darker background to visually distinguish them.
Worked around buggy clipboard produced by Mail.
Fixed bug in clipboard type display and empty grid cell display.
Fixed bug in shrinking some image clipboards to fit in grid cell.

2.0 - Feature and compatibility enhancements and bug fix:

Added the ability save clipboards across restarts.
Added the ability to lock individual clipboards so they are not discarded as new items are placed in the clipboard (and the ability to unlock).
Added the option to paste text without its formatting.
Added the option to automatically check for updates/
Clipboards now displayed in the grid as formatted text.
Added hover help to the Configure tab of the preference pane.
Limited the display of clipboard items hovered over to 1000 characters.
Reorganized the help information in the preference pane.
Preference pane now loads as 64 bit on 10.6--no annoying relaunch of System Preferences (10.4+ version only).
Fixed bug when "Moved pasted clipboards to position 1" is unchecked.

1.1 - Feature and compatibility enhancements:

Added the ability to delete individual or ALL saved clipboards.
Reformatted preference pane for improved display on 10.4.
Added support for 10.3.

1.0 - Initial release.

Purchasing Paste Master

Paste Master is shareware. You can try it out for 30 days, but if you still use it thereafter, you must register it. The price is very reasonable--$8. After 30 days, Paste Master will not work unless you have registered it.

Registration includes future updates.

To purchase Paste Master, click here, or click the Purchase Registration Code button in the Register tab of the Preference Pane. Once you have paid, you will receive a registration code via email. You can enter this code in Paste Master Register tab.

You may distribute Paste Master unmodified via any media, as long as you keep it together with its Read Me file.