How Many Clipboards Do You Really Need?

Encore Review: The Mac has many utilities which can make life easier, simpler, reduce complex tasks, speed up our work.

Some very good Mac utilities get overlooked because we use them too much.

I’m not talking email or browser, word processor or spreadsheet, or any of the iLife applications that make the Mac unique.

What’s on my mind every Friday is something fabulous, friendly, and free. It’s Friday.

Clipboards. We all use it. It’s what cut and paste does inside nearly every Mac application.

When you select Cut, whatever you selected gets stored in the Mac’s memory.

When you Paste, whatever you selected gets pasted wherever you want it to go. Usually. There are a few exceptions, but not many.

Cut and paste is common, and we do it without thinking-- until something goes wrong. Cut and paste is also universal. Mostly.

Mac users cut and paste, and so do Windows users. Someone should have obtained a patent because they’d be rich.

What’s the problem with cut and paste?

Once you paste something, then cut something else, what you just pasted moments ago is gone forever.

Basically, and with few exceptions (there are exceptions; many applications have multiple ud-do options built in), that’s how cut and paste works.

Utilities that provide multiple levels of cut and paste are not a dime a dozen, but they all work in a similar manner.

You may still cut, and still paste, but a certain number of recent cuts will stay in memory and be available for you to check back and retrieve.

One of my favorites is PTHPasteboard, now at version 4.0. PTH has been around awhile, added a few new features here and there, and has a Pro version with more features.

Friday is Freebie Day, so we’ll stick with PTHPasteboard’s basic application. It’s always been free and may be that way forever. Or not.

In the meantime, multiple clips for cut and paste is a good thing and so is the price.

On the surface, there’s not much to PTHPasteboard. It’s a System Preference Pane so installation is even easier than drag and drop. Just double click and follow instructions.

There are some Preferences to set, but nothing odd or unusual, even for Mac newbies.

One feature I like is the open and on-top window. It’s a PTHPasteboard window that stays on top of other applications so you can always see what’s there and been saved.

Since it’s so handy, all you need to do is scroll through the list of saved “cuts” and click on the one you want. Wherever your cursor was is where the new cut goes.

It’s that simple to use. The window can also be hidden and brought to the screen by a menu bar icon or a personal hot key.

Does Alex take care of you? That’s what we’re here for.

There are a few other Mac applications that create multiple clipboards, and most are quite good.

From my experience, the biggest roadblock to using multiple clipboard applications is user habit. We’re creatures of habit and don’t like to change.

If you haven’t used a multiple clipboard utility, give PTHPasteboard a try, then tell me how you like it. If you’ve used another, share with us your experience and let others know what’s good and what’s not.

Off Topic Note: Have you ever noticed how much Apple’s “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” television commercials remind you of Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote? Seriously.