diff --git a/tauri/src-tauri/src/main.rs b/tauri/src-tauri/src/main.rs
index 50855ab0..1de56a30 100644
--- a/tauri/src-tauri/src/main.rs
+++ b/tauri/src-tauri/src/main.rs
@@ -1036,7 +1036,22 @@ fn open_input_monitoring_settings(app: tauri::AppHandle) -> Result<(), String> {
 ///
 /// Pipeline: activate the captured PID → settle → save the user's
 /// clipboard → write `text` → fire ⌘V → wait for the target to consume it
-/// → restore the original clipboard.
+/// → conditionally restore the original clipboard.
+///
+/// The restore is conditional on `NSPasteboard.changeCount` (or the
+/// Windows sequence number) matching the value captured right after
+/// `write_text`: if something else wrote to the clipboard during the
+/// paste-consume window — the user's own ⌘C in the target app, a
+/// clipboard history tool (Paste, Pastebot, Maccy), Universal Clipboard
+/// sync, 1Password inserting a secret — their newer content takes
+/// priority over our snapshot and is preserved. A
+/// [`clipboard::current_change_count`] read failure is treated the same
+/// way: unknown state is safer than an unconditional overwrite.
+///
+/// `send_paste` failure is isolated from the restore decision: we always
+/// attempt the conditional restore before propagating the paste error,
+/// so a failed `CGEventPost` / `SendInput` never leaves the user's
+/// clipboard stuck on the transcript.
 ///
 /// Skips (returns `false`) without touching anything when:
 /// - `focus.bundle_id` is Voicebox itself — step 6 will inject directly
@@ -1066,11 +1081,24 @@ async fn paste_final_text(
     tokio::time::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_millis(POST_ACTIVATE_SETTLE_MS)).await;
 
     let snapshot = clipboard::save_clipboard()?;
-    clipboard::write_text(&text)?;
-    synthetic_keys::send_paste()?;
-    tokio::time::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_millis(PASTE_CONSUME_MS)).await;
-    clipboard::restore_clipboard(&snapshot)?;
+    let after_write = clipboard::write_text(&text)?;
 
+    let paste_result = synthetic_keys::send_paste();
+    tokio::time::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_millis(PASTE_CONSUME_MS)).await;
+
+    let safe_to_restore = matches!(
+        clipboard::current_change_count(),
+        Ok(current) if current == after_write
+    );
+    if safe_to_restore {
+        clipboard::restore_clipboard(&snapshot)?;
+    } else {
+        eprintln!(
+            "[voicebox] clipboard mutated during paste window — skipping restore to preserve newer content"
+        );
+    }
+
+    paste_result?;
     Ok(true)
 }