# How to Copy and Paste on Mac: Keyboard, Trackpad and Files > How to copy and paste on a Mac: ⌘ + C to copy, ⌘ + V to paste. Plus right-click on a MacBook trackpad, the Edit menu, files in Finder and screenshots. URL: https://clipten.com/how-to-copy-and-paste-on-mac Updated: 2026-10-02 About ClipTen: https://clipten.com/llms.txt ClipTen (https://clipten.com/) How to copy and paste on Mac ## How to copy and paste on Mac On a Mac, copy is Command + C and paste is Command + V. Here is that, and every other way: the MacBook trackpad, the Edit menu, files, screenshots, and text from your iPhone. ### Quick answer Checked October 2026 by the founder | To | Press | | Copy | ⌘ + C | | Paste | ⌘ + V | | Cut | ⌘ + X | | Paste without formatting | ⌥ + ⇧ + ⌘ + V | | Select all | ⌘ + A | | Undo | ⌘ + Z | The ⌘ Command key sits right next to the space bar. Hold it, then tap C or V. To keep ten copies at once instead of one, ClipTen (https://clipten.com/mac) puts them on your number keys: ⌘ + C + 1 saves, ⌘ + V + 1 pastes. ### Copy and paste with the keyboard - Select the text: drag across it, double-click a word, or press ⌘ + A for everything. - Copy it with ⌘ + C. Nothing seems to happen, but the Mac now holds it. - Click where it should go. - Paste with ⌘ + V. To cut instead, so the text leaves its first place, press ⌘ + X and then paste. If you paste the wrong thing, ⌘ + Z takes it back. The same shortcuts work on every Mac: MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac and Mac mini. Using a Windows keyboard with a Mac? The Windows key works as Command, so it is Windows + C and Windows + V. ### Copy and paste with the trackpad or mouse On a MacBook the right-click is called a secondary click: - Click the trackpad with two fingers, or - Hold Control and click once. A menu opens on what you selected. Choose Copy, then secondary-click where it should go and choose Paste. If the two-finger click does nothing, switch it on in System Settings › Trackpad › Secondary click. On a Magic Mouse, the same setting is in System Settings › Mouse. ### Copy and paste with the Edit menu Every app has Edit in the menu bar at the top of the screen, with Cut, Copy, Paste and Paste and Match Style. The menu also shows each shortcut beside its name, which is a handy way to learn them. ### Copy and paste files and folders in Finder - Select the file in Finder and press ⌘ + C. - Open the folder it should go to. - Press ⌘ + V to put a copy there, or ⌥ + ⌘ + V to move it, which is the Mac’s way to cut and paste a file. ⌘ + X does not work on files in Finder. That is why the move shortcut exists. ### Copy a screenshot to paste Add Control to the screenshot shortcut and the picture goes to the clipboard instead of the desktop: - ⌃ + ⇧ + ⌘ + 4 and drag to copy part of the screen. - ⌃ + ⇧ + ⌘ + 3 to copy the whole screen. Then press ⌘ + V in Messages, Mail, Notes or a document. ### Paste without the formatting Text copied from a web page brings its font, size and colour with it. ⌥ + ⇧ + ⌘ + V pastes it as plain text that matches the rest of your document. More on pasting plain text → (https://clipten.com/paste-without-formatting) ### Copy on iPhone, paste on Mac Universal Clipboard lets you copy on an iPhone or iPad and press ⌘ + V on your Mac, a moment later. It needs the same Apple Account on both, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on, and Handoff switched on: on the Mac in System Settings › General › AirDrop & Handoff. It works the other way too. Where the clipboard is on iPhone → (https://clipten.com/clipboard-on-iphone) ### Where the copied text goes The Mac keeps one copy in memory. Copy something new and the last one is replaced. To see it, open Finder and choose Edit › Show Clipboard. On macOS Tahoe 26 you can also turn on a short history in Spotlight and open it with ⌘ + Space then ⌘ + 4. Clipboard history on Mac → (https://clipten.com/clipboard-history-mac) ### A copy paste app for Mac that keeps ten One clipboard is fine until you need three things from one window in another: you go back and forth for each one. ClipTen (https://clipten.com/mac) gives your Mac ten clipboards, one on each number key: - ⌘ + C + 1 copies into slot 1, ⌘ + C + 2 into slot 2, and so on. - ⌘ + V + 1 pastes slot 1, wherever you are. - Plain ⌘ + C and ⌘ + V still work exactly as before. Slots 1–5 are free. All ten are $15, once. How to copy and paste several things at once → (https://clipten.com/how-to-copy-and-paste-multiple-things) ### When copy and paste stops working If ⌘ + V pastes old text or nothing at all, quit and reopen the app first. If it is the same everywhere, open Activity Monitor, search for pboard, and quit it: the Mac restarts it straight away and the clipboard works again. All the fixes → (https://clipten.com/copy-paste-not-working) Last checked October 2026. ### Questions #### How do I copy and paste on a Mac? Select the text, press ⌘ + C to copy, click where it should go and press ⌘ + V to paste. Without the keyboard, click with two fingers on the trackpad and choose Copy, then Paste. #### How do you paste on a MacBook? Press ⌘ + V. The ⌘ Command key is next to the space bar on MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. Or click the trackpad with two fingers and choose Paste. #### How do I right-click on a MacBook to copy? Click the trackpad with two fingers, or hold Control and click. A menu appears with Copy and Paste. #### How do I cut and paste a file on a Mac? Select the file and press ⌘ + C, then go to the new folder and press ⌥ + ⌘ + V. That moves the file instead of copying it. #### What is Control + C on a Mac? On a Mac, copy is Command, not Control: ⌘ + C. Control + C does nothing in most Mac apps, though it stops a command in Terminal. #### Can I copy and paste several things at once on a Mac? Not with the built-in clipboard, which holds one item. ClipTen (https://clipten.com/mac) adds ten: ⌘ + C + 1 to save, ⌘ + V + 1 to paste. ### Keep reading - Clipboard history on MacSpotlight on Tahoe, and older Macs (https://clipten.com/clipboard-history-mac) - Paste without formatting⌥ + ⇧ + ⌘ + V, and making it the default (https://clipten.com/paste-without-formatting) - Clipboard on iPhoneWhere it is, and how to see it (https://clipten.com/clipboard-on-iphone) - Copy and paste shortcut keysEvery shortcut, Windows and Mac (https://clipten.com/copy-and-paste-shortcut-keys) - Best clipboard manager for MacSix compared (https://clipten.com/best-clipboard-manager-for-mac) Download forMac (https://clipten.com/mac#install) Get it fromMicrosoft - Slots 1 to 5 free, no daily limit - No card, no subscription - All 10 slots for $15, once On a Mac, it installs in about a minute with one line in Terminal (https://clipten.com/mac#install).