Apple Expands Spotlight Clipboard Settings in macOS Tahoe 26.1

[MacRumors]

Apple quietly added a small but notable enhancement to Spotlight in macOS Tahoe 26.1, which was released on Monday. The update introduces new clipboard history controls for Spotlight, allowing users to decide how long copied items remain accessible in search results.

Previously, Spotlight could optionally retain clipboard contents for up to eight hours, but the latest update expands that flexibility with three options – 30 minutes, 8 hours, or 7 days. There's also a new "Clear Clipboard History" button in System Settings ➝ Spotlight, giving users the ability to manually wipe stored clipboard data without having to wipe Spotlight search history wholesale.

The changes should be welcomed by anyone wanting finer control over how long potentially sensitive information is retained by Spotlight, and it puts the feature more on par with third-party clipboard management apps. Apple did not mention the change in its macOS 26.1 release notes, suggesting it may be just one of several under-the-radar refinements to macOS Tahoe 26.

Article Link: Apple Expands Spotlight Clipboard Settings in macOS Tahoe 26.1

 

[sniffies]

Still barebones clipboard compared to Raycast's, but the 7-day history is definitely a much needed improvement.

Other improvements I'd like to see:

1. Single-step keyboard shortcut; ⌘-space-4 just ain't cuttin it
2. Full contents of copied data
3. Copied image size and dimensions
4. Number of characters/words for copied text
5. Allowlist and blocklist for apps; for example, allow copying from Passwords app
6. 30-, 60-, 90-day history
7. Copied data filtering; for example, show text only, images only, links only, etc.
8. Copied data previewing (not opening); for example, preview images, links, etc.
9. Pinning, which would prevent pinned entries from getting cleared beyond history limit

 

[bmustaf]

"Apple quietly added a small..."

Oh, with Spotlight involved it'll be anything but quiet and small.

mds, mds_stores, etc are things of nightmares, hahaha.

 

[jarman92]

Nice! I use and am very happy with Paste, but happy to see Apple still working on this because I need it on iOS!

 

[tkermit]

Still barebones clipboard compared to Raycast's, but the 7-day history is definitely a much needed improvement.

Other improvements I'd like to see:
...

I had hoped to see something closer to Paste, which feels way more Apple-like... this is barely an MVP.

 

[MikeX]

so what happens to our passwords copied with 1password? do they get indexed for everyone to find?

 

[RootFayel]

Nice! I use and am very happy with Paste, but happy to see Apple still working on this because I need it on iOS!

This has to be on the way for iOS. Long overdue!

 

[Devnul0]

so what happens to our passwords copied with 1password? do they get indexed for everyone to find?

Hopefully whatever it is that password managers do to keep the things that they stuff into the pasteboard from getting involved with Continuity (copy on one device, paste on the other), will keep them out of the hands of Spotlight. But realistically it needs to be tested to be sure, because Apple has shown us some really stupid things.

 

[OptimusGrime]

While the increase in time to 7 days is very welcome, it’s a little frustrating to see that the number of entries still remains at 20. I can’t see much benefit in having the same number of copied items on both 8 hours and 7 days.

If someone could confirm my findings, or indeed correct them, I’d be grateful.

 

[jarman92]

so what happens to our passwords copied with 1password? do they get indexed for everyone to find?

Do you think Spotlight...publishes its index publicly?

 

[WWP99]

I just want it to work. Spotlight is so poorly designed that I can never find a file I literally type the name of. Have to use third-party apps, which are much better.

 

[Surrylic]

so what happens to our passwords copied with 1password? do they get indexed for everyone to find?

Who else could find your password? It’s just available in Spotlight, if that… who do you think is seeing your personal computer’s Spotlight?

 

[bmustaf]

Do you think Spotlight...publishes its index publicly?

Who else could find your password? It’s just available in Spotlight, if that… who do you think is seeing your personal computer’s Spotlight?

Well, it's actually a good point. You're right it doesn't publish its index publicly, but third party apps _can_ and _do_ search Spotlight, so before enabling that it is very valid to have another check in with one's self/settings to ensure you trust the apps installed and that have access to Spotlight indexes/indexing, because this definitely can change the nature of data in that index and the threat profile those decisions might have been made on previously.

Not just passwords/credit card numbers, but whatever apps you've connected to Spotlight, it's wise to do a gut check on if you're OK with them using your data in any number of ways (e.g. marketing, etc) and then also how _their_ providers handle it (is that data being used/sent to inference providers and what ToS apply there, it's a chain that's actually pretty full of holes in terms of protections).

I am less concerned about passwords/cc numbers, I would not really thrilled to see my clipboard history end up in OpenAI/Anthropic/Google training data sets b/c some app provider used them to rerank search results it got from Spotlight, so they didn't _mean_ to misappropriate my data, but they _did_.

It happens more often than you'd think/imagine...

 

[coolfactor]

It's nice to see these configuration options added, but still strange they call the Spotlight feature "Results from Clipboard" instead of just "Clipboard History". Wouldn't the latter be more elegant? What "results" are the clipboard producing? None.

 

[jarman92]

You're right it doesn't publish its index publicly, but third party apps _can_ and _do_ search Spotlight

This is hardly my area of expertise, but I'm pretty sure this is wrong. Third party apps can integrate with Spotlight but they can't access the index directly, just query metadata using Apple's APIs on the same level as Spotlight itself.

 

[svish]

Glad to see more controls. Ability to manually wipe is very great. Will be updating my Macs soon.

 

[bmustaf]

This is hardly my area of expertise, but I'm pretty sure this is wrong. Third party apps can integrate with Spotlight but they can't access the index directly, just query metadata using Apple's APIs on the same level as Spotlight itself.

Yes, that data is easily available. Through CSSearchableItemAttributeSet you can get all kinds of data on the CSSearchableItem. There is all kinds of PII, PHI, etc in those and clipboard entries.

The point is that this is not the isolated, well protected castle local to your machine that only you have access to that I think you're suggesting it is. Rarely is any data leaked, shared, or exfill'ed bc the raw file just gets published online like "Do you think Spotlight...publishes its index publicly?" intimates. It's overwhelmingly less-than-obvious data custody chains exactly like this.

And, if people understand that and can make informed decisions about that, that's a good thing, because a disconnected, locked down search index is not one that I think is a good product, but people just need to really think about what they have linked that has access to the Spotlight APIs and/or the index files themselves and if they *really* trust those third party apps (and the systems those apps use to function, increasingly some provider that by default, absent some strong ZDR agreements which are rarer and rarer, frequently have ToS esp that on the low end of pricing, involve monetizing API calls by default which is your user data) data handling policies, and attitudes like "Do you think Spotlight...publishes its index publicly?" fail to actually understand how user data is exfil'ed (either intentionally or inadvertently).

CSSearchableItem | Apple Developer Documentation

The details of your app-specific content that someone might search for on their devices.

developer.apple.com

CSSearchQuery | Apple Developer Documentation

A type you use to programmatically search the indexed app content.

developer.apple.com

Searching for information in your app | Apple Developer Documentation

Search for app-specific content and refine search results using predicates and filters.

developer.apple.com

 

[turbineseaplane]

I use and love FlyCut

Highly recommend it.
It's free and based upon open source app called Jumpcut.

 

[cmaus]

so what happens to our passwords copied with 1password? do they get indexed for everyone to find?

I just tried it with 1Password 7:
I clicked on a saved password, hence copying it into my clipboard, and: Spotlight did not add it to its clipboard history. 👍