# Menus, zoom and the clipboard in computer use

> In computer use, an agent can read and press an app's menu bar, zoom into a screenshot to read small text, and read or replace your clipboard after asking you.

canonical: https://agentsky.dev/help/computer-use-menus-zoom-clipboard
source: https://agentsky.dev/help/computer-use-menus-zoom-clipboard.md
updated: 2026-11-03

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**When an agent uses an app on your Mac, it can also use the app's menu bar, zoom into its screenshot and, if you allow it, use your clipboard.**

- **Menus.** The agent can list an app's menus, with each item's shortcut and whether it is checked or dimmed, and press an item. This happens in the background, without opening a menu. It won't press a dimmed item.
- **Zoom.** The agent can look closer at part of its latest screenshot of an app, to read small text.
- **Clipboard.** The agent can read the text you copied or replace it, up to 10,000 characters at a time.

**What is asked and what is refused:**

1. Menus and zoom follow the same per-app question as the rest of computer use ([Allow an agent to control a specific app](https://agentsky.dev/help/per-app-computer-use)).
2. Zoom works in terminals and code editors. Menus don't.
3. The first time the agent wants your clipboard in a task, the app asks "Let the agent use your clipboard?". One answer covers reading and replacing for that task.
4. The clipboard is closed to agents while a password, keychain or security app is in front.

Where: Mac app, in any chat that uses computer use.

Good to know: what a password manager copied is never shown to the agent, and text the agent puts on your clipboard is left out of the computer-use record. Related: [What is computer use?](https://agentsky.dev/help/computer-use-overview), [Apps an agent can only partly use, or not at all](https://agentsky.dev/help/computer-use-app-limits).