Meet the universal clipboard in macOS Sierra

Learn how to use the universal clipboard in macOS Sierra

Since yesterday afternoon macOS Sierra is now officially available for all owners of an Apple computer.

Its launch, along with the launch of iOS 10 last week, completes the company's ecosystem and allows new functions to be handled on all devices, and between them. It is the case of Universal Clipboard, the new universal clipboard that makes it much easier to copy and paste between different devices.

Universal clipboard: copy from where you want, paste where you want

The new Universal Clipboard feature that is now available to all users after the releases of macOS Sierra and iOS 10 makes it much easier to transfer links, texts, photos and much more between different Apple devices. With the Universal Clipboard, you can copy something on your Mac and paste it on your iPhone, or vice versa.

It has been a long time since we have been able to open web pages across different devices however this Continuity feature has now been expanded even further. With macOS Sierra and iOS 10, When a link is copied to one device, the link is uploaded to iCloud, and is available on all other devices where you are signed in with the same Apple ID. This way, you can do things like search for an interesting Applelised article on your Mac, copy the text, and paste it on your iPhone. But you can also, for example, copy a photo on your iPhone and paste it on your iPad.

Using this new function is as simple as the copy and paste that we have been doing for years, only now you copy on one device, and you can paste on a different one.

Obviously, although the process is tremendously fast, Copied content may take a few seconds to be available to be pasted on another device. Remember that you must upload to iCloud, and in this the connection speed also has a lot to do with it.

Another highlight is that there is no visual indicator of the Universal Clipboard, everything is done in the background.

Content copied to the Universal Clipboard has an expiration date, and it will only be available to paste for a couple of minutes. After this time, if you have not pasted it, you will have to copy it again.

Limitations

There are limitations on what can be copied and where it can be copied. Text can be copied from almost anywhere on a Mac or iOS device, but images are more limited and will have to be copied into an application, such as Pages, so it is not an alternative to AirDrop photo file transfer. .

Compatible Mac computers

Universal Clipboard is a Continuity feature, so for it to work, all devices involved must be under the same Apple ID. Bluetooth will also need to be activated for the feature to work, and Bluetooth LE is required. The following Macs work with the Universal Clipboard:

  • MacBook (early 2015 or newer)
  • Mac mini (2012 or newer)
  • MacBook Pro (2012 or newer)
  • MacBook Air (2012 or newer)
  • iMac (2012 or newer)
  • Mac Pro (late 2013)

During the beta testing period of macOS Sierra, there have been reports of erratic Universal Clipboard performance. Thus, sometimes it has been necessary to return to Settings -> General -> Handoff to activate this function and make it operational again. We assume that this bug will have been fixed after the official launch, so we will have to do the test.

Other than a Bluetooth connection and using the same Apple ID, there are no other requirements. A Wi-Fi connection is not necessary as the Universal Clipboard also works with mobile data.

Alongside this Universal Clipboard, other new Continuity features included with the arrival of macOS Sierra include making purchases on the web through Apple Pay or automatically unlocking a Mac from the Apple Watch.


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