[HOME]6:26 AM Dec 9, 2021

How To Use Clipboard History

If you're like me you probably use copy and paste a lot. When you copy something it's stored in memory in a virtual space called the Clipboard. It's been around awhile. One of it's faults is that you could only copy one thing at a time. You needed a third party utility to do more. I've fooled around with a few over the years with varying results. Since Windows 10 October 2018, Windows included it's own Clipboard History where you can copy and paste more than a single item at a time.

This is a feature that you have to turn on. It's off by default. So in the serachbar type Clipboard settings and click on it in the list.

If life was simple you would then just turn on the switch under the heading Clipboard history. So just click it to turn it on. In my case I got a error message claiming *Some of these settings are hidden or managed by your organization. I hate it when this shadow organization takes over my computer when I know it's just me. :-). By the way you may notice the Clear clipboard data button. Guess what it does.

So, now I got to go to the registry editor. Type regedit in the search box and navigate or copy and paste this line in the top bar:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System

Make sure the keys AllowClipboardHistory and AllowCrossDeviceClipboard are there in the right-hand side and double click each one and set it's value to 1, if not already. Add the keys if missing by right-clicking on the the right-hand side of the window and from the menu click on New and then DWORD (32 Bit Value). Type in each key name and set the value to 1. You will need to restart the computer for this to take effect.

So now when I can copy something I use the Windows key and V to paste something.

This brings up the clipboard usually down on the bottom corner of your screen. Click where in your document you want something pasted and then Just click on what you wanted pasted in.

If you open the clipboard by pressing Windows key + V, you can scroll down through the list of items available. You may notice next to each item in the right-hand corner, 3 little dots. Clicking on this gives you some options; to Delete individual items, to Pin and Clear all.

If you Pin something , it remains even after you clear all or when you restart the computer. Restarting the computer clears out the clipboard history except for pinned items. Just click on the three dots menu again and click on Unpin to remove pinned items.

Final notes: I can confirm this works with both pictures and text. The cross device or syncing (haven't tested) means you can copy something on one device and paste it in another. So I could copy something from one computer and paste it into another document on a separate computer. But, Microsoft account needed for this operation.