Read the message when a manual save is refused
Choose Save Current Clipboard after copying harmless text. If Clivra refuses, its message tells you which rule applied. The messages in this release are: Activate your license in Settings → License; Recover your library in Settings before saving clips; Allow automatic clipboard saving in Settings first; Automatic capture is paused; Clipboard wasn’t saved while secure input is active; Clips from this app are excluded in Privacy settings; Protected clipboard content wasn’t saved; and Copy again in the source app, then use Save Current Clipboard, which appears when the copy came from Clivra itself or from an unidentified source.
Automatic capture additionally requires Capture mode to be Automatic. Manual saves and file imports still work when it is set to Manual or paused, so a working manual save with a silent automatic history usually points to those two settings.
Check licence, consent and pause
Capture and Quick Paste need an activated licence. Open Settings → License and confirm the status, then use Recheck if your Mac was offline for a long time; the signed receipt allows 30 days without a check. Next open Settings → General: Allow automatic clipboard saving must be on, Pause automatic capture off and Capture mode set to Automatic.
- Settings → License: status active; otherwise activate or Recheck while online.
- Settings → General: allow automatic saving, clear the pause, choose Automatic capture.
- Copy a fresh harmless phrase from TextEdit and look for it in History.
Check privacy exclusions and saved types
Settings → Privacy lists Ignored apps and Saved types. Password managers and Keychain Access are ignored by default when they are the source or the frontmost app, and anything a clipboard owner marks as concealed or transient is never stored. If a whole category is missing, such as images or files, the type may be cleared under Saved types. Skip likely passwords, keys and payment details can also reject text that merely resembles a card number or a key; paste that text manually instead of weakening the guard.
Copies made while a secure input field is active are dropped by design. Finish typing in the password field, click elsewhere, then copy again.
Fix Quick Paste and direct paste
The default Quick Paste shortcut is Control + Command + V. If another app owns that combination, Settings → Shortcuts shows conflict feedback and lets you record a different key or restore defaults. Pressing Enter on a result always copies the clip first; direct insertion into the destination additionally needs Accessibility. Without it Clivra shows Copied · allow Accessibility for direct paste, and Command + V in the destination finishes the job.
Live global-shortcut registration and Accessibility paste are recorded in the QA notes as implemented but not exercised in that automated pass, so confirm them once on your own Mac with a harmless sample rather than during urgent work.
Screenshots, browser copies and the demo
Automatic screenshot history is a separate opt-in that watches the folder you choose and relies on the macOS screenshot marker; images from third-party screenshot tools need manual import. Browser copies appear with a Safari or Chrome source only after an eligible copy, and attribution can be wrong for background clipboard changes.
The browser demo on this site stores only what you add in that browser and cannot watch your Mac clipboard; an empty demo library says nothing about the Mac app. On macOS 26 and later, Spotlight’s own clipboard history (Command + Space, then Command + 4) is an independent place to look for a very recent copy.
If nothing above applies
Export your library from Settings → General before changing anything else; export works even when the licence is inactive. Then email support@clivra.app with the exact message shown, your macOS version and the step that fails. Keep licence keys and clipboard content out of the email. A copy that was never saved cannot be reconstructed, so return to the original document when you need it now.