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Solutions for the most common issues you might run into with Cliprift. If your problem isn't covered here, reach out on Discord or email [email protected].
Clipboard items aren't appearing on your other devices. This is usually caused by a network issue, an expired session, or clipboard monitoring being paused.
Check your network connection
Cliprift needs an active internet connection to sync. Make sure you're connected to Wi-Fi or a wired network on both devices.
Sign out and sign back in
Your session may have expired. Go to Settings and sign out, then sign in again. Cliprift automatically retries on authentication errors, but a fresh sign-in resolves persistent issues.
Check if clipboard monitoring is paused
Look for an amber "Paused" badge in the toolbar. If monitoring is paused, new clipboard items won't be captured. Go to Settings > Clipboard and toggle monitoring back on.
Verify both devices are active
Open Settings > Devices on each device and confirm both show as active. Deactivated devices won't send or receive sync updates.
Automatic retry
If an item fails to sync, Cliprift automatically retries up to 3 times with increasing delays. Failed items stay in a local queue for 24 hours. You'll see a toast notification if an item couldn't be synced after all retries.
You're seeing a "device limit reached" message when trying to register a new device. Each plan has a maximum number of active devices.
2
active devices
Unlimited
active devices
Deactivate an unused device
Go to Settings > Devices on any active device and deactivate one you're no longer using. This frees up a slot for your new device.
Upgrade to Pro
Pro removes the device limit entirely. Go to Settings > Account > Upgrade, or visit cliprift.com/pricing.
You'll see an amber "Paused" badge in the toolbar when clipboard monitoring is disabled. While paused, Cliprift won't capture new clipboard items.
Open Settings > Clipboard and toggle Clipboard monitoring back on. The "Paused" badge will disappear and Cliprift will start capturing clipboard items again immediately.
Why pause monitoring?
Pausing is useful when you're copying sensitive data (like passwords from a password manager) that you don't want captured in your clipboard history. You can also use per-app ignore lists in Settings to automatically skip items from specific applications.
When end-to-end encryption is available, if you forget your passphrase you will be able to use a recovery code to regain access to your encrypted clipboard items.
Click "Forgot passphrase?" on the unlock dialog
When Cliprift asks for your encryption passphrase, click the forgot link to switch to recovery mode.
Enter one of your recovery codes
Type or paste any unused recovery code. Codes are in the format XXXX-XXXX-XXXX. Each code can only be used once.
Set a new passphrase
After your code is verified, you'll be prompted to create a new passphrase. Choose something memorable — Cliprift can't recover your data without it.
Save your new recovery codes
New recovery codes are generated after each recovery. Download or print them and store them somewhere safe.
No recovery codes?
When end-to-end encryption is available: if you lose your passphrase and all recovery codes, encrypted clipboard items cannot be recovered. The server will have no access to your key. You would need to reset encryption in Settings, and previously encrypted items would be lost.
Rate limiting protects your account
After 3 failed unlock attempts, you'll be temporarily locked out. The lockout starts at 30 seconds and doubles with each additional failure (up to 30 minutes). This resets when you restart the app.
Snippet keyword expansion requires the Accessibility permission on macOS. Without it, keywords you type won't trigger snippet expansion.
Open System Settings
Click the Apple menu (⌘) and select System Settings (or System Preferences on older macOS versions).
Navigate to Privacy & Security → Accessibility
Scroll down in the sidebar to Privacy & Security, then click Accessibility.
Enable Cliprift
Find Cliprift in the list and toggle it on. If it's not listed, click the + button and add it from your Applications folder.
Restart Cliprift
Quit and reopen Cliprift for the permission change to take effect. Keyword expansion should now work in all applications.
Windows and Linux don't need this
Keyword expansion works out of the box on Windows and Linux. The Accessibility permission is a macOS-specific security requirement for apps that need to read global keyboard input.
By default, closing Cliprift on Windows minimizes it to the system tray instead of quitting the app. This keeps clipboard monitoring and sync running in the background.
| Platform | Close button behavior | Configurable? |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | Hides to system tray (default) | Yes — Settings > System > Minimize to tray |
| macOS | Always hides to menu bar | No — standard macOS behavior |
Right-click the Cliprift icon in the system tray and select Quit. Or disable the "Minimize to tray" toggle in Settings > System — after that, the close button will exit the app normally.
Keep it running for sync
If you disable minimize-to-tray, closing the window stops clipboard monitoring and sync entirely. We recommend leaving it enabled so Cliprift can capture and sync items in the background.
Items larger than 100 KB are uploaded to cloud storage (S3) using temporary upload URLs. These uploads can fail due to slow connections or plan restrictions.
| Scenario | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| "Plan does not support large file storage" | Items over 100 KB require a Pro plan | Upgrade to Pro |
| Upload timeout | Upload URL expires after 60 seconds | Check your connection speed; the item will retry automatically |
| Download fails | Download URL expired or network issue | Pull again — Cliprift generates a fresh download link (valid for 1 hour) |
What counts as "large"?
Items under 100 KB (like text snippets, short code blocks, and URLs) are stored inline and sync on all plans. Items over 100 KB (like images, large code files, and rich text documents) use cloud storage and require Pro.
Android restricts background clipboard access for privacy reasons. Starting with Android 10, apps can only read the clipboard while they're in the foreground.
The Cliprift mobile app receives clipboard items synced from your desktop — it's a viewer and picker, not a background monitor. Copy something on your desktop and it appears on your phone. On mobile, you can browse your history, search items, and copy them to your phone's clipboard.
Check your internet connection
The mobile app needs an active connection to receive sync updates from the server.
Make sure you're signed in
Open the app and verify you're signed in with the same account you use on desktop.
Pull to refresh
Swipe down on the clipboard list to force a sync from the server.
Push notifications
Make sure notifications are enabled for Cliprift in your Android settings. Cliprift uses push notifications to alert you when new items are synced, so you can quickly open the app and access them.