How is the Clean transform different from Paste and Match Style?

Paste and Match Style adapts copied text to the destination's formatting. Clean strips the clip to true plain text — no fonts, colors, or stray markup — so it pastes predictably anywhere.

Does fixing grammar require an internet connection?

The Rewrite transform calls the AI provider you connected, so that step needs a connection. Cleaning to plain text and browsing your history work entirely offline.

Will the rewrite change my meaning?

It corrects grammar and phrasing while preserving your meaning, and the result is a new clip. Your original is untouched, so you can always discard a rewrite you do not like.

Is my text sent to ClipHistory's servers?

No. ClipHistory has no cloud or account. The only external call is the direct request to your own AI provider using your own API key.

Paste Plain Text and Fix Grammar on Mac

Two of the most common copy-paste annoyances on a Mac are completely different problems that people often want to solve at the same time: pasted text drags in fonts, colors, and link styling you did not want, and the text itself has typos or clumsy phrasing. ClipHistory handles both — stripping formatting and fixing grammar — without bouncing through a text editor or a grammar website.

The two problems, separated

It helps to be precise about what you are actually trying to do.

1. Paste as plain text

When you copy from a webpage or a Word document and paste into an email, the formatting usually tags along: serif fonts, blue underlined links, gray highlights. macOS has Paste and Match Style (Cmd+Option+Shift+V), but it is inconsistent across apps and only matches the destination style — it does not truly normalize the content.

ClipHistory's Clean transform strips a clip down to plain text: no fonts, no colors, no stray markup, no double spaces. The result is a clean string you can paste anywhere predictably.

2. Fix grammar and phrasing

Plain text that is still full of typos is only half the win. The Rewrite transform runs the clip through the AI provider you connected and returns corrected, clearer prose. You can use it for a light grammar pass or a heavier rewrite, depending on how rough the source is.

Doing both in one pass

The real workflow is chaining them:

Copy the messy text.
Open ClipHistory with Cmd+Shift+V.
Run Clean to get plain text.
Run Rewrite to fix grammar and tighten phrasing.
Paste the finished version.

Because each transform produces a new clip, you can compare the cleaned-but-not-rewritten version against the fully rewritten one and choose. Nothing is lost; the original stays in your 150-clip history.

Why this beats the manual route

The manual route is: paste into TextEdit to strip formatting, copy, paste into a grammar site, wait, copy the suggestion, paste into the real destination. That is a lot of steps for a two-sentence message.

With ClipHistory:

One shortcut opens the history.
Two menu picks clean and rewrite.
Everything stays local — the only external call is the direct request to your chosen AI provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, DeepSeek, Google, or a custom endpoint), using your own API key.

There is no ClipHistory account, no cloud sync, and no service quietly storing what you typed.

Where the paste stack helps

If you are processing several blocks of text — say, cleaning up five pasted paragraphs for a document — the paste stack lets you queue each cleaned-and-rewritten clip and paste them in sequence. Instead of switching back and forth, you process them all, then drop them in order at the destination.

Snippets for the phrases you reuse

Grammar fixing is for one-off text. For the phrases you type constantly — a support sign-off, a standard disclaimer, your address — use snippets instead. A snippet is a saved, reusable block you can paste instantly, no AI call needed. Combine the two: keep your polished boilerplate as snippets, and reserve Clean + Rewrite for fresh text that needs work.

Boards keep related cleanups together

When you are cleaning and rewriting a batch of text for one project — say, normalizing copy pasted from several documents into a single style — boards give you a named place to collect those clips. Instead of hunting through general history, you open the board and every cleaned fragment for that project is in one spot. Anything you want to keep past the 150-clip rolling window can be pinned; pinned clips are unlimited and never roll off, so a finished, polished paragraph stays available as long as you need it.

Picking a provider for grammar work

For pure grammar correction, the differences between providers are smaller than for creative rewriting — all five supported options handle spelling, punctuation, and basic phrasing reliably. If cost is your main concern and you do a lot of cleanups, DeepSeek is an inexpensive choice. If you want the most natural-sounding rephrasing, Anthropic and OpenAI models tend to read smoothly. Because you bring your own key, you can change providers any time without touching your workflow — the Rewrite transform works the same way behind any of them.

A note on accuracy

The grammar fix is only as good as the model behind your API key. For most everyday writing, any of the five supported providers produces solid corrections. If you want a specific tone, you can phrase your need in the rewrite and the model will follow it — for example asking for a more formal or more concise version. Because the transformed clip is separate from the original, an over-aggressive rewrite is never destructive; you just discard it and keep the source.

Requirements

ClipHistory is a universal binary for macOS 12 and later, running natively on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs. It is signed and notarized by Apple. You connect your AI key once, then Clean and Rewrite are available on any clip from the moment you copy it.

Get ClipHistory for macOS — $19.99, a one-time payment for a 12-month license (no auto-renewal). Download ClipHistory and keep your clipboard local, searchable, and AI-ready.