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A Useful Update to Batch Clipboard 2

After some lengthy consideration of what was still missing in Batch Clipboard for macOS by Bananameter Labs, version 2.3 of the application was released this week on the Mac App Store and on GitHub for manual install. It fixes a few issues and rounds out the feature set with some things requested by users and still others long on the back burner.

The next release planned is one that adds no new features, but does add localization to some languages other than US English. Which languages are coming first and the timeline of this release are still to be determined. Stay tuned!

Along with this release is a revision to the documentation pages, importantly adding a new page which summarizes the different techniques for using with the app. It collects some details that were strewn about other documetation pages, or previously missing, or new to this version. There is more to do still though, including updating the now slightly out-of-date screenshots of menus, and of Settings window panels, and also completing the details about those panels. These updates will be rolled out in stages without fanfare, and for this as well no timeline is set.

Thank you to the beta testers, and to friends and family. This release was completed while the 2026 World Cup of football was ongoing, and also while our technical lead at Bananameter Labs was away house-sitting at two different households and wrangling a total of 5 cats between them. Names and photos withheld but to humans K, J, A, M, T, and critters N, D, C, L, J, thanks it was fun!

Users of the App Store edition should soon be offered an upgrade to this version automatically. Users of the non-App Store edition who have "Check for updates automatically" turned on in the settings will also be offered an automatic upgrade soon. For non-App Store users without automatic update checking turned on, choose the "Settings" item at the bottom of the Batch Clipboard menu, and in the window that opens, use the "Check Now" button.

The new feature in version 2.3:

  • Hold option key with the menu open to show Start Batch with Clipboard, use if you cut/copy something then realize you in fact want a batch of several clips, it starts a batch with the first item being what’s already on the clipboard.
  • New option useful when the menu bar icon is hidden: show the app in the Dock and app switcher, and made switching to the app reveal the menu bar icon. Added contextual menu to the Dock icon.
  • Changes in the General Settings tab: made more explicit the option for hiding the menu bar icon, added the option to turn on the Dock icon, another to start batch mode when the Dock item clicked, moved keyboard shortcut fields to its own new tab.
  • Change in the Advanced Settings tab: one to reset previously supressed alerts (ones containing “Don’t ask again” checkboxes), another to enable some debug logging.
  • Simplified menu when advanced paste items are enabled using the checkbox in the Advanced tab of the Settings window. “Skip to Next” and “Start Pasting From Batch” are now one context sensitive menu item.
  • About Batch Clipboard now opens a new first About panel in the Settings window, with more room to describe what the app does and use real buttons for linking to further resources instead of underlined text.
  • Improved layout of the Intro window in preparation for localization, and updated some of the content to fixing typos and improve clarity.
  • New Intro window page asking user to choose to add Batch Clipboard as a login item. Includes an option to defer decision and show a reminder alert after copying & pasting a batch a few times.
  • For IAP-unlocked saved batch feature in the App Store version: a new Repeating setting for saved batches, made visible if new checkbox turned on in the Advanced Settings tab. After pasting last begin pasting from the first again, until batch cancelled.
  • Also for saved batch feature: holding option key when saved batch menu showing changes “Reply” menu item to “Replay Repeating”. Menu item to open dialog for editing or deleting saved batches changed from “Rename” to “Edit”, and fixes to behavior of that dialog.

And the fixes:

  • Fixed alerts sometimes opening behind other applications’ windows, and improved reliability of returning the user’s application and window to be frontmost after using Batch Clipboard menu items or Settings window.
  • Log exceptions in release builds instead of crashing. Further diagnosis of the few apparent edge cases that were tripping exceptions will be done in debug builds, perhaps future betas that use an analytics framework.
  • Removed internal hidden menu bar definition that was intended to assist localization, but added complexity and seems to have been contributing to menu lag on some systems.
  • Fixed some bugs when clipboard history is enabled.
  • Fixed some warnings that were being logged to the system console.
  • Removed dependency on the package SDWebImage, not used since early betas of version 1.

Batch Clipboard is avaiable in the Mac App Store at https://apps.apple.com/app/batch-clipboard/id6695729238 and if you prefer to manually install the non-App Store edition then it's available on GitHub at https://github.com/jpmhouston/Batch-Clipboard/releases/latest. (And if you go there, also consider adding a star on the GitHub repository; this will allow us to add the application to the default homebrew index and let nerdy users more easily discover and install it from their terminal command-line).

See also the app's information and documentation site at batchclipboard.bananameter.lol.