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Advanced Copy and Paste Techniques

Using The Application's Cut or Special Copy Command

A secret of Batch Clipboard is that when it's in batch mode, any changes to the clipboard whether it's from using the global shortcut CONTROL (^) + COMMAND (⌘) + C or using any command in the frontmost application such as Cut, it will be added to the batch.

This is as long as the command copies to the regular system clipboard, and not an alternate one. One example of an alternate clipboard is the Ruler clipboard usually used by a Copy Ruler command.

If everything you want to include in the batch is by cutting rather than copying, or at least the first item is, then the trick is to manually enter batch mode using Start Batch in the Batch Clipboard menu.

So to be clear, to Cut from the frontmost application into a batch:

  1. If not yet in batch mode, pick Start Batch from the Batch Clipboard menu. If already in batch mode with a number beside its icon in the menu bar, then step 1 is not needed.

  2. Use your frontmost application's Cut command. The number beside the Batch Clipboard icon in the menu bar should increment. You can also click the icon to see what you've just cut within the menu.

As mentioned here, Batch Clipboard's global shortcut is only needed to start a batch and do the first copy, after which the frontmost application's copy / cut command or shortcut are also added to the batch. When batch mode is already started, the Batch Clipboard copy shortcut CONTROL (^) + COMMAND (⌘) + C isn't really needed, it does the same as the frontmost application's Copy, but using it anyway has a memorable symmetry with the paste shortcut.

In truth, pasting isn't really symmetrical to copying, because while a copy in one application can be detected from another, a paste cannot. Those who don't care about presenting a fake symmetry but rather about exposing how things work under the hood (those who prefer cars with manual transmissions, say) can assign a keyboard shortcut to Start Batch in the Gerenal panel of the Setting window. See Beyond the Basics and Settings - General.

Using The Application's Special Paste Command

If you frequently need to paste certain items from a batch using the frontmost application's paste command, such as Paste and Match Style, then the answer is to turn on Show advanced paste menu items in the Advanced panel of the Settings window.

Turning this checkbox on reveals the additional menu items Start Pasting From Batch and Advance To Next Batch Item. See also Settings - Advnaced.

Like when copying using the frontmost application's copy command, there's a special case for the first item in a batch. For example, to use the frontmost application's Paste and Match Style command for an item from the active batch:

  1. If you haven't started pasting any items from the batch yet and the Start Pasting From Batch menu item in the Batch Clipboard menu is enabled, first select that menu item. If this isn't the first item to be pasted from the batch and this menu item is not enabled, then step 1 is not needed.

  2. Use the frontmost application's Paste and Match Style command.

  3. Select the Advance To Next Batch Item menu item in the Batch Clipboard menu.

These three steos is what Paste From Batch & Advance does automatically, except invoking the frontmost application's normal paste command. These extra menu items enabled by the option in the Settings just allows you to manually do these individual steps.