TieTieFrom ⌘C to the right place.
The steps in between are what TieTie handles: where it goes, how you find it again, what it looks like, and which key sends it out. This page walks through all of them.
TieTie knows what you copied.
Not everything gets flattened into a text list. Five types, each with its own look and its own abilities.
| Type | What happens to it |
|---|---|
| Text | Becomes a sticky note in one of eight colors. The same clip always gets the same color, so you end up remembering where things are by color. If it looks like code, it switches to a terminal look with syntax coloring for 29 languages. |
| Link | Fetches the page title, favicon and preview image in the background. YouTube links pull the official thumbnail. You can turn this off, since it's the only feature that reaches out to the network. |
| Image | A real thumbnail, not a generic icon. Local OCR reads the text inside so you can search it, and any QR code gets decoded to its contents. |
| File | QuickLook thumbnail plus the full path. Copy several files at once and you get a Finder-style list. If a file gets deleted later, the card fades and says so. |
| Rich text | Keeps its formatting. When you paste it you choose: keep the styling, or plain text only. |
Skips anything marked private
Password managers flag what they copy using the org.nspasteboard convention.
TieTie sees the flag and ignores the clip entirely.
Strips tracking parameters
utm_*, fbclid and gclid can be removed before the URL even gets saved.
Copying twice doesn't make two cards
Content gets hashed with SHA-256. Copy the same thing again and the original card just moves back to the front.
You can tell it to stop
⌘T pauses capture, and the menu bar icon changes so you won't forget it's paused. Specific apps can be excluded permanently.
Two shapes. Pick whichever fits.
Either way the panel doesn't steal focus from the app you were in, so your cursor stays where it was and pasting goes right back there.
TieTie window
A floating window in the bottom right. Categories run down the left, and the cards sit in a 3-by-2 grid you scroll vertically. This one works better once you have a lot of categories, since you can see all of them and their counts at a glance.
- Square cards, fixed at 250pt
- A gold scroll indicator on the right edge that fades once you stop
- The dog peeks over the top left corner, and yes you can turn that off
Classic bar
A full-width strip along the bottom of the screen, cards flowing sideways in one row. Faster for scanning the last few things you copied, and it doesn't cover the area you're working in.
- Scroll wheel and trackpad both scroll horizontally
- It stops wherever you stop, no snapping to a grid
- Cards can go compact so more of them fit on screen. That switch only exists for the classic bar — cards in the TieTie window stay at 250
Two real appearances
Dark mode isn't the light colors inverted. The eight note colors, the card shadows and the divider lines each have their own values per appearance. A faint black shadow on a dark surface is no shadow at all, so the dark shadows are darker and wider.
- Follow the system, or lock it to light or dark
- It only changes TieTie, never your system setting
The classic bar goes dark too
Both layouts respect the appearance setting, so all four combinations work. The bar sits lower in dark mode and barely registers along the bottom of your desktop.
Cards come in two looks as well.
It's a separate switch from the layout. One controls the shape of the panel, the other controls the cards themselves. Every shot so far has been "immersive", so here's the other one.
Classic cards
A 60pt gradient band across the top, colored from the source app's theme or the category color, with that app's real icon on the right. Title and timestamp live on the band, and the content sits in its own area below.
- You can tell at a glance which app something came from
- File cards get a footer with the full path
- Plain text cards use a darker shade of the same hue, so each card reads as one tone
The band speaks differently in each appearance
In light mode it's a pale tint of the hue with dark text. In dark mode it's the same hue pushed darker with white text. Not one color used twice. Reuse the light values in dark mode and you get a dark label stuck onto pale paper.
- Text color follows the band's brightness, so white never lands on white
- Colors pulled from an app icon get darkened too, since they carry no contrast guarantee
- Immersive cards, the default, have no band at all
Three places, three promises.
| Where | What it means | Does it get cleared |
|---|---|---|
| History | A stream. Newest first, and pasting or re-copying moves something back up | Yes, based on the item count and day limits you set |
| Pinboard | Pinned means kept, permanently | No. Clearing history doesn't touch it |
| Categories | Filing. Make as many as you want, 16 colors to choose from | No. Deleting the category doesn't delete what's in it |
One clip, three homes
The same item can sit in history, a category and the Pinboard at once. Edit it and TieTie asks whether to update all of them or just the one you're looking at.
Drag onto a tab to file it
Drop it on a category to file it, drop it on Pinboard to pin it. Multi-select and drag the whole group if you want.
Deleted the wrong one? ⌘Z
It comes back, attachment included. Your selection stays where it was, which makes deleting several in a row painless.
Spread them out, and the size works itself out
Expands to a near-fullscreen grid you can rearrange freely. How big the cards get is calculated from the width, the height and how many there are, so a handful gets bigger and a lot gets smaller.
- Fitting on one screen beats making cards bigger. You can't drag onto what you can't see
- With fewer cards than columns, it only lays out what's there, so 1 to 3 sit centered instead of clinging to the top left
- Both layouts share the same arrange mode. Esc puts it away
Start typing. That's it.
No search icon to click, no category to pick first. With the panel open, typing means searching, and it covers everything at once.
- SQLite FTS5 full-text index, so results come back in milliseconds
- Traditional Chinese finds Simplified and the other way around
- Text inside images is included, via OCR
- type:image for images only, app:chrome for things copied from Chrome
- Chinese and Japanese input methods won't trigger a search mid-composition
- Enter moves focus to the first result and the arrow keys take over
Hit Space and it opens.
Light things stay light: a line of text, a color code or a small image pops up beside the card with an arrow pointing at it. Only heavy content gets a real window. Reading one sentence shouldn't take over your screen.
| Web pages | Actually loads the page, private session, muted the moment you close it. YouTube and bilibili switch to a full-bleed player |
| PDFKit paging, and the window opens at the document's aspect ratio. A4 portrait gets a portrait window | |
| Video | mp4, mov and m4v play natively. mkv falls back to QuickLook |
| Markdown | Rendered, tables included |
| QR codes | Shows the contents, not the image. A link opens the page, a WiFi code gives you the credentials |
| JSON | A collapsible tree. Right-click to copy any subtree |
| CSV / TSV | Laid out as a real table |
| Office files | QuickLook handles them, window sized to the thumbnail |
Images open at their own proportions
Not crammed into a fixed frame with black bars around it. The window takes the shape of the image, so a square photo gets a square window and a tall one gets a tall window.
- An info bar underneath shows dimensions and file size, with EXIF you can expand
- Decoded at 2400px, so zooming in stays sharp
- Light content like text or a color code skips the big window and pops up beside the card
With a preview open, the arrow keys keep moving through your clips and the window stays put. Much faster than opening and closing it one at a time.
Hands stay on the keyboard.
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| ⇧⌘V | Show or hide the panel. Global, and you can change it |
| Return | Paste into the app you came from |
| ⇧Return | Strip formatting, then paste |
| ⌘1–⌘9 | Quick-paste the first nine. Hold ⌘ and each card shows its number |
| ⇧⌘C | Paste Stack. Copy a series, then hit ⌘V repeatedly to lay them down in order |
| Space | Preview on or off |
| ⌘E | Edit. Text opens inline, images open the editor |
| ⌘N | New text note, typed right here |
| ⌘R | Rename in place |
| ⌘S | Save an image out as a file |
| ⌘O | Open the link or file |
| ⌥⇥ / ⌘←→ | Switch categories |
| ⌘Z | Undo the delete you just did |
Drag out and get a real file
Drop onto Finder and it lands in the matching format: Markdown becomes .md, JSON becomes .json, a link becomes .webloc. Not one of those .textClipping files you have to open to identify.
Drop into a text field and it's still text
Same gesture, different result depending on where it lands. Into Pages it's formatted text. Onto the desktop it becomes a file.
Convert Chinese as you paste
Right-click any Chinese clip to paste it as Simplified or Traditional. The original stays as it was.
Copy without pasting
Sometimes you just want it back on the clipboard, not pasted for you. There's a setting for that.
Not only what you copied elsewhere
⌘N opens a new text note to type into, and ⌘E edits anything already saved. Jotting down a phone number or a line you'll need in a minute doesn't need a separate notes app.
Opens on the display you're using
With an external monitor, the panel appears on whichever screen your mouse is on. It won't jump to the main display and leave you hunting. Same for previews and the editor.
The rest of it is in there too.
Emoji picker
Seven categories plus your recents. Clicking one pastes it straight into the app you were in. It doesn't enter your history and the panel stays open, so you can click a few.
Usage stats
How many times you copied today, the split by type, a 7-day bar chart, and your top five source apps.
Backup and restore
Export everything to a single file, or let it back up daily on a rotation. Moving to a new Mac takes one file.
Three languages
English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese. The whole interface, not half of it.
Every shortcut is yours
Click to record a new one. Conflicts get flagged on the spot, and changes take effect without a restart.
Sounds, if you want them
Two notes up when you copy, two notes down when you paste. Or off.
Need an emoji? Skip the system panel
Seven categories plus your recents. Click one and it goes straight into the app you were in. It doesn't enter your history and the panel stays open, so clicking a few in a row works fine.
- In the classic layout it sits in the first slot of the card row, and the toggle sticks
- In the TieTie window it's a floating panel instead, and closing the panel closes it
- Recents can be cleared in one click
How much are you actually copying
Open it and find out. Today's count, how history and pins break down, the split by type, and which apps you copy from most.
- A 7-day bar chart with today highlighted in gold
- Top 5 source apps, with their real app icons
- A snapshot from when you opened it, so nothing moves around while you read
If it's adjustable, it's in here.
Five tabs, and everything you'd want to change is on one of them. Here's what each one holds.
| Tab | What you can change |
|---|---|
| General | Interface language, launch at login, sound effects, paste behavior (back into the app or just onto the clipboard), troubleshooting (debug mode, export a diagnostics bundle) |
| Appearance | Light and dark (follow the system, always light, always dark), panel layout, card style, show the dog, compact cards, hover effects, and one master switch for animation |
| Shortcuts | Every hotkey is yours. Click to record, conflicts get flagged on the spot, and changes take effect without a restart |
| Data | History item limit and retention days, clear history, export and restore backups by hand, daily automatic backups (including where they go), open the data folder |
| Privacy | Hide during screen sharing, link previews on or off, strip tracking parameters, skip confidential clips, exclude specific apps |
Two switches are mutually exclusive: "compact cards" only shows up in the classic layout, and "show the dog" only in the TieTie window. Each belongs to one layout, and listing both would suggest the other has it too.
Enough reading. Try it.
TieTie 1.0 · macOS 15 and up · one-time purchase