It lets you quickly paste any text from your clipboard history using the same spotlight-like search used for other features like Trigger Macro by Name and all the Insert by Name actions in the editor.
You would not believe how many times I used this in the week after releasing Keyboard Maestro 10, pasting snippets of support text to multiple people, mixing and matching different things I’d copied.
So try this out, and see if it is something you’d like to start using.
I can see why you like it. It's pretty compelling. Clipboards are one of KM's shining strengths, but I admit I don't use them much. Does it work on plaintext only, or also on styled text?
Outstanding. Something I never thought of but just seeing this post makes me realize it's something I will likely use many, many times a day. Thanks for sharing Peter!
EDIT: Also, thanks for doing this. ↑ I'm sure a lot of folks here will really look forward and benefit from them.
I only installed the new version today, and I truly love this feature. It bothered me that the list was sorted alphabetically, but it turns out there's a "gear" option to turn that off. Very cool.
Fabulous! Thanks for pointing it out to me. I already had "paste" mapped to a function key (easier on the thumb than ⌘v) but I used the short-press/long-press trick discussed elsewhere so that a long-press on the paste button performs paste-by-name. This rocks!
I've got to sing the praises of this again, because it's become indispensable to my regular workflow. Too bad we can't "pin" this topic.
I mean, every day, and sometimes every hour, I find another way to change my workflow to encompass this action and make my computer life so much easier. I use this with almost every application I use.
In fact, I think I'll add a counter to it to keep track of how often I use it.
I just have the problem that copied passwords from 1Password can not be excluded.
I have excluded 1Password in the settings, still the passwords are captured with the "Paste by Name action".
Firstly, if you copy from 1Password using the Mini 1Password or by various other ways, then that will not be within 1Password application, so that would not be excluded.
Secondly, if you display the Clipboard History Switcher, or the Paste by Name, then that will explicitly read the current system clipboard, so if the most recent thing you copied is from 1Password, that will be included since you are explicitly reading the clipboard at that point.
But if you, for example, have the Clipboard History Switcher closed, and you copy 4 passwords in the 1Password application, then show the Clipboard History Switcher or the Paste by Name, only the last one will be present in the list.
Also, 1Password copied items are explicitly marked by 1Password as password items, and so by default they are concealed in the Clipboard History Switcher and the Paste by Name facility, and will be dropped from the list after position 10 and never written to disk even if you (as you generally should) save your clipboard history between launches of Keyboard Maestro Engine.
Judging by the counter I put in this macro, I use it on average about 11 times a day. And I'll bet if I had kept a daily count, I'd see it being used more and more as time goes on.
It's become so ingrained in my daily computer life (not just KM, but everything), I honestly wonder how I used a computer for so long without having this feature before now.
Hi @peternlewis, I use this new Paste by Name Action all the time. It is a great new feature for working with text. Could I put in a request that there is an optional setting to paste as plain text rather than styled? I was thinking the option could be in the gear menu - in fact I checked to see if that setting was already there.
Dunno how I ended up on this old post or why I'm even replying (I guess because I ended up here and so could you in the future so may as well add some helpful info).
Make sure in 1pass that you have this setting checked if you don't want your passwords showing up in the clipboard history. It will show up at first but then 1password will zap it out.
This will not remove the password from Keyboard Maestro’s clipboard history.
There is no macOS function to “zap out” the system clipboard. 1Password does this by setting the clipboard to something new (empty string I believe), but that doesn't remove the previous entry in Keyboard Maestro’s history, it just adds a new entry.
1Password makes the password (and anything it copies) as sensitive, and Keyboard Maestro notes this marking and will:
Not save the entry to the disk if that option is enabled in Keyboard Maestro’s preferences.
Remove the entry when it gets past position 10 in the Keyboard Maestro clipboard history.
Conceal it when displayed directly (note that this is largely superficial, it’s akin to a password field with a “show password” button next to it - it conceals the direct display in the clipboard history switcher, or the Paste menu, but the password is still there to be pasted, or option-clicking the entry will display it.
