---
title: "ClipboardMarkdown · macOS Clipboard to Markdown file"
description: "A tiny macOS menu bar app that saves your clipboard as a Markdown file. No account, no friction. Just paste, save, done."
url: "https://hoeijmakers.net/clipboardmarkdown/"
date: 2026-04-04
updated: 2026-04-22
author: "Rob Hoeijmakers"
site: "hoeijmakers.net"
language: "en"
tags: []
---

# ClipboardMarkdown · macOS Clipboard to Markdown file

A small macOS utility that does one thing: it takes whatever text is on your clipboard and saves it as a `.md` file in your Downloads folder. No app to switch to, no paste-format-save cycle. One click from the menu bar.

I built it for my own workflow and several people asked if they could try it, so here it is.

## What it does

ClipboardMarkdown sits in your menu bar as a clipboard icon. Click it, choose **Save Clipboard as Markdown**, and the file lands in `~/Downloads` with a timestamp as the filename: `2026-04-04 15.42.10.md`

It handles three source types, in order of preference:

- **HTML with structure** (headings, code, lists, links) from sources like GitHub, web articles, or Google Docs: converted to clean Markdown
- **Rich text** from Pages, Word, or similar: formatting preserved where meaningful
- **Plain text**: saved as-is

Sources without recognisable structure, like LinkedIn or plain prose in divs, fall back to plain text automatically.

A system notification confirms each save. Click it to open the file directly.

## Requirements

- macOS 13 Ventura or newer
- Apple Silicon or Intel

## Download

Download the zip, unzip, move `ClipboardMarkdown.app` to your Applications folder. Done.

Version 1.1.1, macOS 13+, Apple Silicon & Intel. Notarized.ClipboardMarkdown-1.1.1.zip509 KB.a{fill:none;stroke:currentColor;stroke-linecap:round;stroke-linejoin:round;stroke-width:1.5px;}download-circle## First launch

ClipboardMarkdown is notarised by Apple, so macOS will open it without warnings. Move `ClipboardMarkdown.app` to your Applications folder, double-click, and you're done.

PDF is not supported. PDF is a rendering format, not a copy format — the clipboard never carries the document, only what the PDF viewer chose to expose as text. For PDF-to-Markdown conversion, use a tool that works on the file directly, such as Marker (open source) or a [browser-based converter](https://pdf2md.morethan.io).## Want to inspect or build it yourself

The distributed binary is notarised by Apple and you can verify what it does by reading the source.

If you'd rather build from source than trust a downloaded binary, the repository has everything you need.

---

**Related**
- [My First Mac App](https://hoeijmakers.net/my-first-mac-app/)