Saving text from any app

Found something worth keeping, like an address in an email, a reply you wrote in Slack, or a command in a README? Save it without opening the library.

With ⌥⌘C

⌥⌘C is ⌘C with ⌥ Option added: “copy into HandyPaste”.

1. Select the text in any app.
2. Press ⌥⌘C.
3. The Save as Snippet panel opens. It shows a Title, taken from the first line of the text, a Folder (the one you saved into last time, or No Folder), and a preview of the text.
4. Adjust the title or folder if you like, then press Return to save, or Esc to cancel.

A small Snippet Saved message appears and fades. Click it to open the new snippet in the library.

You never leave the app you were in. Behind the scenes, HandyPaste presses ⌘C in that app to read the selection, then puts your clipboard back the way it was, so whatever you had copied before is still there. It never rewrites a password manager's clipboard entry.

If it doesn't save

You see	Why	What to do
A beep and Nothing to Save	Nothing was selected	Select the text first
A beep and Can't Copy in This App	The app has Secure Keyboard Entry on (Terminal and some other terminal apps offer it), or you're in a password field. It stops other apps from pressing keys there.	Turn it off in the app's menu, for example Terminal ▸ Secure Keyboard Entry, or use the Services menu below
Allow HandyPaste to Copy the Selection	Pressing ⌘C for you needs Accessibility permission, like pasting does	Click Open System Settings and turn on HandyPaste, or use the Services menu below
Snippet Limit Reached	The free version's 15 snippets you create are used up	Delete a snippet, or unlock Pro

Change the shortcut

Open Settings ▸ General ▸ Keyboard Shortcuts, click the Save Selection as Snippet shortcut, and press a new one. It can't be the same as the picker's. See Change a shortcut for which combinations work and which ones other apps use. In Finder, Safari and Chrome, for example, ⌥⌘C has a meaning of its own.

With the Services menu

In almost any app, select text, then choose App name ▸ Services ▸ New HandyPaste Snippet from Selection (or right-click the selection and look under Services). The snippet is created with a title from its first line and opens in the library, where you can rename and file it.

This way needs no permission at all.

Give it a keyboard shortcut

In System Settings ▸ Keyboard ▸ Keyboard Shortcuts ▸ Services ▸ Text, you can give New HandyPaste Snippet from Selection a shortcut of its own.

With the menu bar

Click the menu bar icon and choose Save Selection as Snippet. It works like ⌥⌘C, and the menu shows your current shortcut next to it.

With the Shortcuts app Pro

The Create Snippet action saves any text a shortcut hands it, for example from the Share menu or another action. See Menu bar, Services and Shortcuts.

Saved text is text

However you save it, the selection is saved exactly as text. If it contains something like {{date}}, it stays those characters and isn't turned into a placeholder. Add placeholders afterwards in the library if you want them.

On the Free version

Saving creates a snippet, so it counts toward the free version's 15 snippets you create. At the limit, HandyPaste explains and offers Unlock Pro…. See Free and Pro.