Copy and paste from a Mac to a Windows PC — the two-laptop problem
A personal Mac and a work Windows laptop don't share anything. Open a room in the browser on both, type the 6-digit code, and copy on one to paste on the other.
Plenty of people run a Mac at home and a Windows PC for work, or the other way round. The two never share a clipboard — Apple's Continuity is Apple-only, and Windows' clipboard history stays on Windows — so a snippet of code, a URL, or a file you need on the other machine usually goes through email, Slack-to-self, or a shared drive.
pastehere sits in the browser on both, so the operating systems don't have to agree on anything. Open a room on the Mac, type the six-digit code into any browser on the Windows PC, and copy on one to have it land on the other — text, links, screenshots and files alike.
How to do it in three steps
- 1
Open a room on your Mac
Go to pastehere.app in any browser and create a room. You'll get a six-digit code — no sign-up, nothing to install.
- 2
Enter the code on your Windows PC
Open the same site on your Windows PC and type the six-digit code to join. The two devices agree on a key directly, so the server never sees it.
- 3
Copy on one, paste on the other
Add text, a link, a screenshot or a file on either device and it appears on the other within a second. The room stays open until you destroy it.
Everything is encrypted in your browser with AES-256 before it leaves the device. Devices agree on the room key through a PAKE exchange over the 6-digit code, so the key never reaches the server — it only ever stores ciphertext.
What you can send
Anything that fits in a room moves both ways between your Mac and your Windows PC:
- TextNotes, passwords, addresses, long passages — no length limit.
- LinksOpen a tab on the other device with one tap.
- ImagesScreenshots and photos, kept at full quality.
- FilesPDFs, archives, any file type — up to 15 MB each, 100 MB per room.
What you'd otherwise reach for, and the catch
Cloud drives (iCloud Drive, OneDrive, Google Drive) work across both platforms if you've installed and signed into them on each machine — but that's a sync folder built for files that live somewhere, not a quick clipboard hand-off, and on a managed work laptop you often can't install a personal cloud client at all. Emailing or messaging yourself works but clutters your inbox and recompresses images.
When the two laptops belong to different worlds — one personal, one locked-down work machine — a browser room is the path of least resistance: nothing to install, no account, and the contents are end-to-end encrypted rather than sitting in a cloud account that IT or the provider could read.
Questions
How do I share a clipboard between a Mac and a Windows PC?
Open a pastehere room in any browser on both machines and pair them with the 6-digit code. Then copy text into the room on one and it's available on the other a second later. There's no length limit on text.
Can I do this on a managed work laptop where I can't install software?
Usually yes — it runs entirely in the browser with nothing to install and no account. Check your employer's policy before moving work data off the machine.
Is it safe for sharing code snippets or credentials between laptops?
Yes. Everything is encrypted in your browser with AES-256 before it leaves, and the room key is agreed directly between the two laptops, so the server only stores ciphertext. Destroy the room when you're done.