PasteDaemon Help

Sync

Sync

PasteDaemon can keep your Macs in step through iCloud. Switch it on in Preferences → Sync, on each Mac you want syncing.

What travels

  • Your actions, triggers, abbreviations and themes.
  • Your variables, including secrets.
  • The clipboard history, with its pins and its pictures — or just its text, or none of it; see Keeping the history on this Mac.
  • The settings that mean the same thing on every Mac — how long things are kept, your shortcuts, your sounds, your theme, the apps you have excluded.

What stays on one Mac

  • The search bar's command history.
  • Your licence and your API key.
  • The settings that are about one machine: where the overlay was last put down, which port the API listens on, whether the menu bar icon is showing, the folder Save as File writes into, and whether you have been through the first-launch walkthrough.

Keeping the history on this Mac

Clipboard history, under What travels in Preferences → Sync, says how much of the history this Mac syncs:

  • All of it: text, pictures, file lists and pins.
  • Text and pictures, to begin with: file lists stay on this Mac. A file list is only the files' paths, and the files are seldom at the same place on your other Macs. So does a copy that was one before you typed over it.
  • Text only: pictures and file lists stay on this Mac. So does a copy that was one before you typed over it.
  • None — it stays on this Mac: nothing you copy here is sent, and nothing copied on your other Macs arrives here.

Your actions, triggers, abbreviations, themes, variables, secrets and settings travel whichever you choose, so you can keep your setup the same everywhere while your clipboard never leaves the Mac it was copied on.

It is each Mac's own choice, and two Macs can choose differently. The Macs list says which Macs keep their history to themselves.

Don't sync copies larger than, just below, keeps big copies on the Mac they were copied on: a long log, a high-resolution screenshot. It's one setting for all your Macs, so changing it on one changes it on the others. Raise it, and each Mac fetches the copies the old limit kept from it.

Anything held back stays where it is. Choosing less deletes nothing from your other Macs, and deleting something here that never travelled deletes it here alone. Choosing more fetches what this Mac skipped meanwhile.

On a Mac set to None, Clear history when PasteDaemon quits and when recording is paused work again, since clearing there clears that Mac alone — see Copy/Paste Settings.

Keeping parts of your setup on this Mac

Below the history's choice is a switch each for Actions, Triggers, Abbreviations and Shortcuts. Switch one off and this Mac keeps its own: it doesn't send them, and it doesn't take your other Macs'. Nothing is deleted anywhere. That suits a work Mac whose triggers shouldn't fire at home, or shortcuts that suit one keyboard and not another.

Shortcuts covers keys you've rebound in the overlay and shortcuts bound to actions. The shortcuts in General — opening the overlay, gathering copies and the rest — never sync: each Mac keeps its own.

Switch one back on and this Mac fetches the other Macs' and sends its own, and the two are merged as they were the first time you synced: two actions under the same keyword are both kept, one renamed, and two abbreviations for the same text leave one switched off.

A trigger or abbreviation that syncs can name an action that doesn't. On a Mac without that action, it does nothing.

Keeping one on this Mac

To keep a single action or trigger on this Mac, tick Only on This Mac in its editor; for an abbreviation, right-click it and choose Only on This Mac. It stops syncing, and changes on your other Macs no longer reach it. If it had already synced, your other Macs keep their copy, and from then on the two are separate. These choices only appear while this Mac syncs.

A kept one takes the place of a synced one with the same name here: a kept ;sig expands instead of the ;sig your other Macs share, and a kept deploy action runs instead of theirs. On your other Macs the shared one carries on as before, and nothing is renamed or switched off. The easiest way to do this is Make a Version for This Mac on the shared one: it makes a copy for this Mac just below it, ready to change.

Untick Only on This Mac to sync it again. If your other Macs have their own copy, or one with the same name already syncs, PasteDaemon asks whether to replace theirs with this one or keep this one here.

Keyboard shortcuts work the same way. In Preferences → Shortcuts, each of your shortcuts has a menu with Only on This Mac and Make a Version for This Mac, and a kept one takes the place of a shared one on the same keys here. For the overlay's own chords, right-click a command.

Keeping one copy on this Mac, or syncing one anyway

Right-click a copy in the overlay for either:

  • Keep on This Mac: it never syncs, whatever your settings say, and if it had already synced it's removed from your other Macs. The row shows a crossed-out cloud, and is:local in the search bar lists every copy you've kept.
  • Allow Sync: it syncs even where your settings would keep it here — a picture under Text only, a copy over the size limit, or anything under None. The row shows a cloud, and every Mac takes it. Follow Sync Settings undoes it.

Pick several rows out first to do it to all of them.

To do either as things are copied, a trigger can run an action:

  • no-sync keeps the copy on this Mac. A pipeline action whose pipeline is | no-sync, run by a trigger on copies from your password manager, keeps them off iCloud from the start. By the time you could right-click, sync has usually sent the copy already.
  • allow-sync sends the copy anyway. Run on copies from Figma, it sends those screenshots on while every other picture stays here.

Both also work in the search bar: $1 | no-sync.

What's in iCloud

In iCloud, in Preferences → Sync, counts what PasteDaemon keeps there when you click Measure, and draws it as a bar: copies, pictures, pictures left over that you could remove, variables, and your actions and settings, each with its size. iCloud doesn't say how big a picture is without downloading it, so a picture is measured by this Mac's copy of it. One that isn't on this Mac is counted but not measured, and the total says "at least".

Switching a Mac to Text only or None leaves the pictures it already sent in iCloud, so your other Macs keep theirs. Once no Mac syncs pictures, the pane offers Remove Pictures from iCloud… to clear them out. Every Mac keeps the pictures it has. Copies set to Allow Sync, and pictures held in variables, stay. While any Mac still syncs pictures, the button is greyed out and the pane says which Mac, because that Mac would send its pictures straight back. Set Them to Text Only switches them all from where you are. A Mac that's asleep changes when it next syncs, and the button stays greyed out until it has.

The limit

Limit PasteDaemon to caps how much of your iCloud storage PasteDaemon takes: 250 MB to begin with, as little as 10 MB, or no limit. It's one setting for all your Macs. With a limit set, the bar runs to it, so the empty end is the room left.

iCloud keeps your newest pictures that fit, and older ones are taken out of it. New pictures always go up and make room by pushing the oldest out. Only the picture leaves iCloud: the copy stays in your history on every Mac, and every Mac keeps the pictures it already has. A Mac you set up later gets the old copies without their pictures. A picture that was taken out goes back up if you use its copy again. Copies whose picture or text was taken out show a dashed cloud, and is:offloaded in the search bar lists them.

If every picture is already out and it's still over the limit, the oldest long copies (100 KB of text or more, such as logs) are trimmed the same way: the copy stays in your history on every Mac, but its text leaves iCloud, and a Mac set up later doesn't get it. Shorter text is never trimmed.

Pictures in variables go next: the variable keeps syncing, but its picture leaves iCloud, the one set longest ago first. A Mac that already has the picture keeps it; one set up later gets the variable without it. Last of all go the pictures and long text on pinned copies and copies set to Allow Sync. Nothing is exempt, so the limit holds. Settings and the text of variables always sync.

The limit covers everything PasteDaemon keeps in iCloud, so pictures left over from a Mac on Text only count too. If you're still over with everything that can go already out, the pane says so. Remove Pictures from iCloud… clears the leftovers.

While a Mac on an older version of PasteDaemon is syncing, old pictures can't be taken out, because that Mac would send them straight back. Until it's updated, new pictures stay on the Mac they were copied on once you're over the limit, and the pane says which Mac to update.

Each Mac checks what's in iCloud about once a day, and once an hour while it's over the limit, without downloading anything.

Switching it on

Each Mac is switched on from that Mac. Open Preferences → Sync and turn on Sync this Mac. The first time, whatever is already in iCloud is merged with what that Mac has rather than replacing it — see below.

While a Mac syncs, the top of the pane says whether it's working: a green dot when it is, orange while paused, and red with the reason when it isn't — Not signed in to iCloud, No connection to iCloud, a full iCloud — and what to do about it underneath. With sync off there's no dot.

The Macs list shows every Mac that has ever synced. You can turn another Mac off from here, which stops it syncing the next time it looks, and Forget a Mac you no longer have.

Each Mac also checks iCloud by itself every few minutes, when it wakes from sleep, and when you open this pane or come back to it, in case the notice iCloud sends about a change elsewhere went astray.

If a copy hasn't reached another Mac yet, click Sync Now under the switch, or choose it in the menu bar menu. It sends what changed here and fetches what your other Macs did straight away, instead of waiting. Doing it on both Macs is quickest.

To stop syncing for a while without switching it off, choose Pause Syncing under the switch: 15 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours, or until 9:00 tomorrow. The menu bar menu has the same choices under Pause Syncing For. Nothing is sent or fetched until the pause ends, and anything you copy, change or delete meanwhile reaches your other Macs then. Resume Syncing Now ends it early. Your other Macs list this one as paused until then.

You can also change another Mac's Clipboard history choice from its row. It changes the next time that Mac syncs, and that Mac shows a note saying which Mac changed it. Until then the row says it's switching. A Mac on an older version of PasteDaemon can only be changed on that Mac.

Sharing a copy with a Mac nearby

You can also send copies straight to another Mac on the same network, without iCloud: a colleague's Mac, or one of yours that doesn't sync. Turn on Share with Nearby Macs in Preferences → Sync, on both Macs. Then right-click a copy in the overlay and choose Share With and the Mac. Rows you've picked out can be shared together, up to 20 at once, and Share Clipboard With in the menu bar menu sends what's on your clipboard. Text and pictures can be shared, but not sealed copies or lists of files.

On the other Mac, a message shows who's offering what. Accept puts it at the top of the history and on the clipboard, and Decline sends it back. The message doesn't stop you using PasteDaemon while it's open, and it goes away by itself after two minutes. Anyone on the same network running PasteDaemon with sharing on can make an offer, and nothing confirms which Mac it really comes from, so accept only what you're expecting. If offers become a nuisance, tick Stop receiving offers from nearby Macs in the message, or set Accept copies from to Paired Macs only. A copy you accept never sets off a trigger. Turn on Tag copies with the sending Mac's name to tag each one, such as #from-macbook-air, so you can find them later.

If you're told Couldn't reach the other Mac, it was listed but wouldn't take the connection. Usually its firewall is blocking PasteDaemon: in System Settings → Network → Firewall → Options on that Mac, allow incoming connections for PasteDaemon. Some networks, such as guest or office Wi-Fi, also keep the Macs on them from reaching each other.

Pairing your Macs

For your own Macs, pair them, and copies between them arrive without a question. Click Pair… beside the other Mac in the list. Both Macs show the same six-digit code: check they match, and confirm on both. Paired Macs show a seal in the list and in Share With. Click Unpair beside one to unpair it; a paired Mac that isn't nearby just now is listed under Paired Macs Not Nearby, where you can unpair it too. Unpairing tells the other Mac too, straight away if it's nearby or the next time it is, so it goes back to asking. Pairing is what proves which Mac is which: someone pretending to be your Mac couldn't make the codes match.

What's sent is encrypted, so others on the network can't read it.

When something goes wrong

If sync runs into something it can't get past on its own, such as a full iCloud or being signed out, PasteDaemon says so once in a message on screen. The menu bar menu also shows a line such as Sync: Your iCloud storage is full… for as long as the problem lasts. Choose it to open Preferences → Sync, which has the whole story. A dropped connection doesn't get a message: sync carries on by itself when the connection comes back.

When two Macs have been apart

Both Macs' work is kept. Nothing is silently dropped in favour of whichever synced last:

  • The same variable name on both becomes one variable holding the newer value, with the older one still in its history — one undo away.
  • The same text copied on both is one row in the history, and a pin either Mac gave it survives.
  • Two different actions written under one keyword are both kept, and the second gets a number on the end — slug and slug-2 — because a keyword has to mean one thing when you type it.
  • Two different expansions for one abbreviation are both kept, and the later one is switched off. You can see both in the Abbreviations pane and switch on whichever you meant.

PasteDaemon tells you when it has had to do the last two.

Actions, triggers, abbreviations, themes and settings can only be one version or the other. If both Macs changed the same one, the later edit wins. When yours loses, PasteDaemon says so, and Recent Decisions… at the bottom of Preferences → Sync opens a log of it, kept for 30 days, with Restore Yours to put your version back. Restoring makes yours the latest edit, so it reaches your other Macs too. For the order and folders of your library, and for your settings, an entry also lists what the version kept did differently from the other — a folder added, a trigger moved, a setting changed — so you can tell which it was.

Secrets

Secrets are not in iCloud as plain text. Each Mac has its own vault, and a secret is sealed separately for each Mac that syncs — so reading one still asks for Touch ID on the Mac in front of you.

A Mac that has just started syncing cannot read secrets that already existed until a Mac that can read them has been unlocked once; that happens the next time you use a secret there, and needs nothing of you beyond what it normally asks.

How private it is

What PasteDaemon puts in iCloud is encrypted end to end: the keys live in your iCloud Keychain rather than on a server, so Apple cannot read your clipboard history, your snippets or your settings. Pictures and very long copies are encrypted by PasteDaemon itself before they are uploaded.

Turning a Mac off in the pane stops that Mac syncing. It is not a lock: any Mac signed in to your Apple ID that runs PasteDaemon could read what is in iCloud. If that matters, sign that Mac out of iCloud, or delete the iCloud data.

Stopping

  • Sync this Mac, switched off, leaves everything on that Mac exactly as it is and leaves iCloud's copy for your other Macs.

When you switch Sync this Mac back on, anything you changed on that Mac meanwhile goes up as usual. If you removed anything while it was off — cleared the history, or let old items expire — PasteDaemon asks first: Keep Them There leaves your other Macs as they are, Remove Everywhere deletes those items from every Mac, and Cancel leaves syncing off.

  • Delete iCloud Data… removes the copy in iCloud and stops syncing everywhere. Every Mac keeps the history, actions and settings it already has.

There is no way to get the iCloud copy back afterwards, and nothing is lost by that: every Mac holds the whole of what it syncs.