The native set
⌘C, ⌘X, ⌘V work in every app on the system, and all three use the same single slot. A cut you never pasted is lost the moment you copy something else.
⇧⌥⌘V pastes and matches style. The text arrives in the font, size and colour of where it lands, so a paragraph pulled out of a web page stops carrying the web page's formatting.
⌘Space then ⌘4 opens the clipboard history on macOS 26 only. Plain text, 8 hours by default, and the Clipboard switch sits in System Settings, then Spotlight. If the panel is empty right after you copied something, the switch is off.
The cheat sheet
| Shortcut | What it does | Where it works |
|---|---|---|
| ⌘C | Copy | Everywhere |
| ⌘X | Cut | Everywhere |
| ⌘V | Paste | Everywhere |
| ⇧⌥⌘V | Paste and match style | Most apps, not all |
| ⌘Space then ⌘4 | Spotlight clipboard history | macOS 26 Tahoe only |
| ⌥⌘V | Hold to open the popup, release to paste | Klipto |
| ⌃⌘V | Paste the next Stack item in order | Klipto |
| ⇧⌘V | Paste as plain text | Klipto |
| ⌃⌥⌘C | Copy and split into separate items | Klipto |
| ⇧Enter | Paste the text found inside a copied image | Klipto |
| ⌥⌘C | Save the selected item to Favorites | Klipto |
| ⌘⌫ | Delete the selected item | Klipto |
| ⌥⌘P | Pin the popup open | Klipto |
The one worth practising is ⌥⌘V held down. Your thumb stays on ⌘, the arrow keys walk the list, and letting go pastes. There is no window to dismiss and no second keystroke to confirm.
⌥⌘P only does something while the popup is open. Pressed when it is closed, it does nothing, which is deliberate: a pin that also opens things gets triggered by accident.
The trap
⇧⌥⌘V is a convention, and apps ignore it. Chrome and Google Docs use ⇧⌘V for pasting without formatting instead. Word routes the same job through Paste Special. Some apps support neither, and you find out only when the formatting lands.
That is why Klipto's plain-text paste is bound at the system level. ⇧⌘V strips the formatting before the text reaches the app, so the app has no say in it.
Shortcuts collide. ⌃⌘V is Paste Special in some editors, and ⌘⌫ means Move to Trash in Finder. Every Klipto shortcut is remappable in its Settings, so a collision takes a minute to fix.
What I added and why
⌥⌘V is the one I use most, hundreds of times a day. ⌃⌘V is second, because pasting a collected pile in order removes the whole copy, switch app, paste, switch back loop.
⌃⌥⌘C is the odd one. It copies your selection, splits it by line, comma or semicolon, and puts each piece in the Stack, so a column of ten emails becomes ten separate pastes.
For free clipboard history with a similar popup, Maccy is a fine answer and it is where Klipto started.