Want to open a link from your iPhone on your Mac or swiftly move notes from your iPad to your iPhone? Apple's Universal Clipboard streamlines this by syncing your clipboards across devices. This feature allows you to effortlessly copy from one device and paste to another, requiring minimal setup. Let's dive into how you can enhance your workflow with Universal Clipboard, making every task a bit easier.

Activating Universal Clipboard

To activate Universal Clipboard, follow these simple steps: 

• Make sure your devices are signed into the same iCloud account and have both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi enabled. 

• On your Mac, go to System Settings -> General and select “Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices.” 

• For iPhone and iPad, go to Settings -> General -> AirPlay & Handoff and enable Handoff.

With these settings, you are set to copy and paste between devices.

Cross-Device Copying and Pasting

As soon as Universal Clipboard is activated, exploring its potential across your devices becomes a game-changer. Here’s how you can get started:

From iPhone and iPad to Mac:

• ​​On your iPhone, tap and hold the text, image, or link you want to copy. Use the pop-up menu to select “Copy”.

• This content is temporarily available on your Mac's clipboard via Universal Clipboard, staying there until something new is copied on any connected device.

• On your Mac, navigate to where you want to paste the content. Press ⌘Cmd + V or select “Paste” from the Edit menu to insert the copied content.

From Mac to iPhone and iPad:

• Highlight the content you need on your Mac and right-click to select “Copy” or press ⌘Cmd + C.

• The content is automatically shared with the clipboard of your connected iPhone or iPad.

• On your iPhone or iPad, long-press in a text field where you want to paste and choose “Paste” from the context menu that appears.

Between iPhone and iPad: 

• Copy the desired item on one device by tapping and holding, then selecting “Copy”.

• Switch to your other device (iPhone or iPad), find the area where you want to paste the content, and press to show the “Paste” option.

• Tap “Paste” to transfer the content directly.

Advanced Copying and Pasting

While Apple's Universal Clipboard covers basic cross-device functionality, third-party applications like Paste take productivity to the next level. Paste provides an extensive history of everything you copy across your Mac and iOS devices. An intelligent search helps to quickly locate any item in your clipboard history, ensuring that the exact content you need is just a search away.

It also simplifies organizing and retrieving frequently used items—such as templates, links, or crucial emails—into Pinboards. These items are available on another Apple device, ready to be pasted into any application at any time.

Learn more about Paste and try it for free on the Apple App Store and Setapp.

It's amazing how a simple action like copying and pasting can significantly enhance our daily workflow. With Universal Clipboard, this basic function is elevated, allowing for seamless content sharing between Apple devices. Adding third-party apps like Paste takes this further by maintaining a detailed clipboard history and organizing items into easily accessible Pinboards. These improvements streamline tasks and boost productivity.