Mac clipboard sync for the two Macs you switch between

Carry the next small thing across

Tomorrow's meeting address is open on your MacBook. The calendar entry is open on the desktop Mac, waiting for it. Select the address, Command-C, click into the location field on the other machine, Command-V. No window to open, no recipient to choose, nothing to confirm.

Links and images travel the same way, as long as whatever you paste into will take them. Each new copy goes to the Macs in your current group — which is how a work group and a home group stay separate. Whichever group is selected is the one that sees what you just copied.

Set up Mac clipboard sync once, then prove it with a real copy

Both Macs need macOS 14 or later, and a local network where they can actually reach each other. One can be on Wi-Fi and the other on Ethernet — what matters is the path between them, not matching icons in the menu bar. Install Deskferry on both and have it open on both before you start.

1. On the administrator Mac, open your group and choose Add Mac. On the second Mac, choose Join a Group, pick the nearby invitation and type the six-digit code, then go back to the administrator to review and approve the device. The code lasts 120 seconds and allows three attempts, which is less time than it sounds like when you are walking between rooms. If you still need to create the group, or the code ran out, the first-time setup steps cover both.
2. Select the same group on both Macs, check that sync is on, and wait until the other Mac shows as connected.
3. Copy one ordinary sentence on the first Mac. Paste it into an empty document on the second.
4. Once plain text arrives, try a link or an image from real work. One habit worth forming: after you start the app, reconnect, or resume sync, make a fresh copy. Do not sit waiting for the previous one to replay.

Three kinds of content that travel well

Text covers addresses, quotations, the short message you need to answer. A link lets you pick a page up where you left it. Images land in any document or editor that accepts a pasted picture. The text and link guide and the image guide work through examples of each.

When what you selected is an actual file in Finder, that is a different job — see the file handoff workflow. You copy in one Finder window, paste into a folder you choose on the other Mac, and open the file there to be sure it arrived. Files and videos draw on the administrator's Pro or Max entitlement, and folders need Max.

Worth doing once, on the first day: try a handoff in each direction. Copy the meeting address on the laptop and paste it on the desktop, then copy a reply on the desktop and paste it back. Read what actually arrived both times. If only one direction works, compare the current group, the sync switch and the connection status on both Macs before you change anything else.

Decide what is allowed to leave each Mac

Both ends choose what they allow, in the sync and privacy settings. Text, links and images are covered on every plan. Files and videos need Pro or Max on the group administrator, and folders need Max. One thing to be clear about: a group's sync entitlement does not extend a member's own history access.

Sensitive content has its own switch. Format detection will not recognise every password, key or private note — no detector does — so treat it as a filter and not as the decision about what belongs on another machine. When the next few copies should stay where they are, pause sync.

Today's handoff, next week's search

Sync answers one question. How do I paste this on my other Mac? Deskferry's local history answers a different one — where did the thing I copied on Tuesday go — and the two barely overlap. History is kept separately on each Mac. It works on a single machine, with no pairing at all.

Deskferry is published on the Mac App Store, not handed out here as a direct download, so start from the download page when you install it on both Macs.