Receiving a Sorry, No Manipulations With Clipboard Allowed error on your Mac? Considering Clipboard helps give you access to your Mac’s copy-and-paste features, this can be extremely frustrating. Fortunately, a solution is available. Let’s take a look at your options.

How Do I Fix No Manipulations With Clipboard Allowed?

Before moving on to more technical solutions, try these simple steps first:

Restart your Mac. A simple bug may be giving you the No Manipulations With Clipboard Allowed Error.
Check for a software update by going to System Settings > General > Software Update.
Perform an antivirus scan to check for any malware or viruses.
A third-party clipboard manager may also be a solution.

If none of these work for you, try the following advanced solutions.

1. Fix Clipboard Using Activity Monitor

Restarting your pboard or pasteboard server can eliminate any potential problems you may be experiencing. This background process is crucial for copy and paste features on your Mac. It is what stores your copy data when you go to paste it somewhere. Restarting it can potentially solve your issue.

Time needed: 3 minutes

Simply follow these steps to restart pasteboard.

Open Activity Monitor.
Note: Activity Monitor is commonly found in Applications > Utilities.
Using Activity Monitor’s search bar in the top right corner, search for “pboard” without quotation marks. You should find pasteboard or board processes as you type.
Double-click the desired pboard procedure and select Quit from the pop-up menu.
You will see a dialogue box, you can either Quit or Force Quit. Select One.
Your pasteboard will restart automatically.

2. Fix Clipboard Using Terminal

You can also use Terminal to fix the pasteboard server. Much like Activity Monitor, you are essentially killing the feature and restarting it.

Open Terminal. Note: It’s commonly found in Applications > Utilities.
From Terminal, enter the following command: killall board. Press enter. Note: You can also try sudo killall pboard.
You may need to enter the password for your MacBook.
Quit Terminal.
Clipboard processes will restart automatically. It’s also a good idea to restart your machine.

3. Fix Clipboard Using By Restarting WindowServer

NOTE

Before you try this solution, be sure to save any documents or data within any open window.

WindowServer helps control background processes within the open windows on your device. If this feature crashes, you may get a copy-paste error.

Open Activity Monitor.
In the search box, type WindowServer.
Double-click the WindowServer process.
Select Quit or Force Quit and then exit Activity Monitor.

Why Can’t I Copy Anything to My Clipboard?

If you’re receiving a “Sorry, no manipulations with clipboard allowed” message, it means you are having issues with the feature. You will not be able to use the copy-paste function until the issue sees resolution. Reasons for this include the clipboard crashing, copying something beyond the limit of clipboard, your storage is full or the Mac is not functioning properly.

How Do I Enable Clipboard on Mac?

If you’re Mac is functioning properly, your clipboard will be enabled automatically. This feature gives you access to copy and paste commands, meaning it should operate smoothly and boot up right from the start. You may be experiencing an issue if you cannot copy and paste easily. Using Activity Monitor to quit pboard or WindowServer will likely solve your issue.

Conclusion + CTA

If you’re experiencing clipboard issues or receive a clipboard error, know that there are steps you can take to get it working again. The copy-paste feature can be crucial for a lot of users. If you find that you’re still having issues, you may want to talk to Apple Support.

If you have any other tips for fixing the No Manipulations With Clipboard Allowed error, feel free to let us know in the comments.

3 Fixes for Sorry, No Manipulations With Clipboard Allowed