Copy and paste has become an essential function in our computers. I use it every day when I’m emailing, posting on forums, word processing and even when I’m uploading YouTube videos. Problem is that you can only keep one copied item at a time. Enter Conceited Software’s Clips, the app saves all your copied items for easy access. Not only that but it also has quite a few other extra features. Let’s see what this is all about. 

The Interface

Clips expands on the clipboard quite a bit with the different ways you can view your items. Essentially, Clips just runs in the background while monitoring your system clipboard. It never gets in your way and it doesn’t tax your systems performance. Clips presents you with three different user interfaces, so you can choose one that suits you best. All three offer different functions and usability. The main interface you’ll be using is called the Organizer looks much like a Finder window and behaves the same way (Quick Look, Cover Flow, etc). You can sort through and organize your clippings with ease. You can view your clips by the application source, the Space it was captured in, 

The Panel

The simplest and most unobstrusive way to access clips is the Panel. The Panel is just a simplistic interface that keeps your most recent clips and you can see your flagged clips. Your also able to drag things you want to copy into the panel, although I found that sometimes this would not work depending on what I’m copying and the application. 

The Board sees it all

If you use the Dashboard a lot you will like what Clips offers next, the Board. This I didn’t really like using because it really slowed down my computer, much like the Dashboard. However it’s very flashy and definitely makes use of Core Animation. The main thing to focus on in this view is how your clips are displayed. there are three options on how you might want to display them. The default view arranges your clips in a wheel that as you mouseover them the clips orientate themselves for you to view. It does look cool but really, I didn’t find it at all useful for finding the clip I needed.

The second way you can view it is almost like they are scattered around your screen. It looks like a table with all your photos layed out, and you can move them around to find the clip you need. Again it can be a bit frustrating to use. Finally you can view your clips as a clean list, much more functional. The final feature of the Board is that you can quickly filter your clips by just typing what your looking for. It’s useful if you know exactly what you need but otherwise, not something I used a lot.

Least functional, but the prettiest of the lot!

Does it lead up to anything?

Sure all these features are nice, but it of any use? If you’re a casual user who twitters, surfs the web and types out an occasional document now and then, Clips won’t change the way you use your Mac. If however you’re always moving between applications, projects and files, easy access to anything and everything you hit Cmd+C to is a great productivity enhancer.

The best part is that Clips is totally transparent, and works in the background. You don’t have to change the way you copy-paste, it just enhances it. Clips comes with shortcuts for pasting your last give clips, use it as a text expander (you can save abbreviations), bonjour sharing between multiple macs, and loads of other nitty gritty features.

Of course, you can try it for yourself. A single license costs $30, but if you’re quick enough, you can get a full 50% off at the MacUpdate Promo. Just a few hours till the promo goes poof!