CopyQ README

The project's README from github.com/hluk/CopyQ. As one markdown file: README.md.

CopyQ

Documentation Status Translation Status Linux Build Status macOS Build Status Windows Build Status Coverage Status

CopyQ is an advanced clipboard manager with powerful editing and scripting features.

Overview

Features

Install

Packaging status

To install CopyQ, use the binary package or the installer provided for your operating system.

For unlisted operating systems, please follow the instructions in Build from Source Code.

Windows

Chocolatey package

On Windows you can use any of the following options to install CopyQ:

Using Scoop:

scoop install copyq

Using Chocolatey:

choco install copyq

macOS

macOS 13 and above are supported (this mainly depends on the Qt version).

Homebrew package

On macOS you can use Homebrew to install CopyQ:

brew install --cask copyq

If you encounter an issue where the app crashes with a dialog saying "CopyQ is damaged" or "CopyQ cannot be opened", you may need to run the following commands (for details, see #2652):

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /Applications/CopyQ.app
codesign --force --deep --sign - /Applications/CopyQ.app

Debian 11+, Ubuntu 22.04+, and their derivatives

Install copyq and copyq-plugins packages.

Ubuntu PPA

The official PPA (ppa:hluk/copyq) is no longer maintained. Install the packages provided for your distribution.

See the announcement.

Fedora

Install copyq package.

Arch Linux

Install copyq package.

Other Linux Distributions

Download the latest AppImage from GitHub Releases:

chmod +x CopyQ-*.AppImage
./CopyQ-*.AppImage

Alternatively, install Flatpak and com.github.hluk.copyq from Flathub. See Flathub Setup for initial Flatpak/Flathub configuration.

Start CopyQ from the menu or with the following command:

flatpak run com.github.hluk.copyq

Using the App

To start CopyQ, double-click the program icon or run copyq (on Windows, run CopyQ.exe, or launch it from the Start menu; no desktop icon is created by default).

The list with the clipboard history is accessible by clicking on the system tray icon or by running copyq toggle.

Copying text or image to the clipboard will create a new item in the list.

Selected items can be:

All items will be restored when CopyQ is next started.

To exit CopyQ, select Exit from the tray menu or press Ctrl-Q in the CopyQ window.

Read more:

Adding Functionality

To create custom actions that can be executed from the menu, with keyboard shortcuts, or when the clipboard changes:

One of the very useful predefined commands is "Show/hide main window".

Read more:

Command Line

CopyQ has a powerful command line and scripting interface.

Note: The main application must be running to be able to issue commands using the command line.

Print help for some useful command line arguments:

copyq --help
copyq --help add

Insert some text in the history:

copyq add -- 'first item' 'second item' 'third item'

Omitting the double-dash (--) in the command above would mean that slashes (\) in arguments will be treated as special characters. For example, \n will be treated as the new line character, \t as tab, \\ as slash, \x as x, etc.

Create a single item containing two lines:

copyq add 'first line\nsecond line'

Print the content of the first three items:

copyq read 0 1 2
copyq separator "," read 0 1 2

Show the current clipboard content:

copyq clipboard
copyq clipboard text/html
copyq clipboard \?    # lists formats in clipboard

Copy text to the clipboard:

copyq copy "Some Text"

Load file content into the clipboard:

copyq copy - < file.txt
copyq copy text/html < index.html
copyq copy image/jpeg - < image.jpg

Create image items:

copyq write image/gif - < image.gif
copyq write image/svg - < image.svg

Read more:

Build from Source Code

See the documentation section Build from Source Code.

Contributions

You can help translate CopyQ (click the banner below) or help fix issues and implement new features.

Translations

Read more:

CopyQ (hluk/CopyQ)

Searching Database…

12.5K ·GitHub
CopyQ
What is this?CopyQ is an advanced clipboard manager that monitors the system clipboard and saves its content into customizable tabs so you can browse, search, and reuse past clipboard entries.
Is this a background tray app or something else?It's a desktop application that runs in the system tray, keeps a persistent history window, and also exposes a command-line/scripting interface for automation.
How do I install and start using it?Install via the Windows installer, portable zip, Scoop or Chocolatey; via Homebrew on macOS; via your Linux distro's package, PPA/Flatpak, or AppImage. After install, run 'copyq' (or launch CopyQ.exe on Windows) and click the tray icon or run 'copyq toggle' to open the clipboard history.
Do I need anything else installed first, like Homebrew?On macOS you install it through Homebrew, and on Linux you can use Flatpak/Flathub as an alternative to native distro packages; no other runtime is required to use the app itself.
Any install pitfalls I should know about?On macOS, Gatekeeper may show a 'CopyQ is damaged' or 'CopyQ cannot be opened' error after installing, requiring a manual terminal fix; also the Ubuntu PPA is no longer maintained.
Which operating systems does it actually support?Linux, Windows, and macOS 13 and above are supported.
What kinds of content can it store besides plain text?It can store text, HTML, images, and other custom clipboard formats, and lets you add notes and tags to saved items.
Can I automate actions when the clipboard changes?Yes, you can create custom commands via the Command dialog (F6) that run on keyboard shortcuts, from the tray menu, or automatically whenever the clipboard changes.
What can I do with the command-line interface?The 'copyq' CLI lets you add, read, copy, and write clipboard items of any format (text, HTML, images) directly from scripts, e.g. 'copyq add first item' or 'copyq copy image/jpeg - < image.jpg'.
Can I exclude certain apps or text from being recorded?Yes, CopyQ can ignore clipboard content copied from specified windows or containing specified text.
What are similar projects?AutoHotkey, gyotaku, deskflow, Gource, TranslucentTB, msime-windows, lanmessenger, snow-apps
Which topics is it in?clipboard-manager, clipboard, tray, scripting, cpp, c++, utility, command-line, desktop, gplv3, productivity, gui
Creator
hluk
Size
44.3 MB
Stars
12.5K
Updated
CommitOct 14Releasev17.0.0Oct 06
Age
16y
Commits · 90 Days