How to View Your Clipboard History in Windows 10

When you copy, cut or otherwise move data from one place on a computer, regardless of whether the data is text, a hyperlink, an image or anything else, a copy of the data is saved in an invisible portion of the computer’s memory. The place where the data you copy, cut or otherwise move from one place on a computer is stored is known as the computer’s Clipboard. Every single piece of data you copy during one session of use on a computer is stored on its Clipboard, and the Clipboard resets every time the computer is shut down and then booted back up again. A computer’s Clipboard is what enables the user to freely copy or move data from one place to another, even going as far as to allow data to be freely moved between different applications.

On a Windows computer, when you press Ctrl + V the last piece of data you copied or moved from another place is copied over or moved to where you pressed the Paste shortcut. However, what if you need something you copied or moved that was not the last piece of data you copied or moved? This is where the Clipboard steps in – you can simply view your Clipboard, locate what you require and copy the data over from the Clipboard. Windows XP came with a pre-installed Clipboard Viewer (clipbrd.exe) that could be used to view the entire Clipboard of a computer running on Windows 10. However, unfortunately, none of the iterations of the Windows Operating System that have been created and released after Windows XP have come with built-in Clipboard viewing or managing utilities.

Built-in Clipboard History

But with the release of the October 2018 update for Windows 10 (Version 1809), Microsoft has introduced this functionality in Windows 10- the latest and greatest in the long line of Windows Operating Systems. For details about the built-in Clipboard, please visit the official Microsoft page.

Currently, the built-in clipboard history only supports text, HTML, and images less than 4 MB in size. To enable it, perform the following steps:

1. Press Windows key and clipboard settings. Then in the resulting list, click on clipboard settings. Open Clipboard History
2. Then toggle the switch of Clipboard History to On.
3. If you want to sync clipboard to other devices, then toggle its switch to on.
4. If you want to automatically sync the Clipboard history or want to sync the selected one, then enable the crossposting option. Change Clipboard Settings

Although office applications like MS Word have a built-in clipboard which can be used in the applications. You can bring that on by clicking on Clipboard on the Home menu of the application.

Open Clipboard in Word

Other Methods:

So what do Windows 10 users have to do to be able to take a look at their Clipboard history other than the built-in clipboard? Well, the following are the methods you can use to view your Clipboard history on a Windows 10 computer:

Method 1: Download and Use the Clipboard App

There exists on the Windows Store a Clipboard app that has been designed to allow Windows 10 users to share data they copy or move while using their computers to and from their respective Clipboards by sharing them using Windows 10’s Share charm. The Clipboard app is extremely simple and is also in every single Windows 10 user’s reach, so downloading and using it to view your Clipboard history is an extremely easy process. To use this method to view your Clipboard history, you need to:

1. Open the Windows Store.
2. Search for the clipboard app.
3. Locate an app in the search results simply titled Clipboard and select it.
4. Make sure that it is the right app – it is completely free to download and is published by Justin Chase.
5. Click on Get the app to download and install it.
6. Wait for the Clipboard app to be successfully downloaded and installed on your computer.
7. Once the Clipboard app has been successfully downloaded and installed, launch it and use it to not only view your Clipboard history but also to easily share data to and from your Windows 10 computer’s Clipboard.

Method 2: Download and use Clipdiary

If the Clipboard app that is readily available on the Windows Store doesn’t fulfill your requirements or you simply don’t like it for some reason, fear not – you still have one other option in the form of the myriad of third-party Clipboard viewers and managers that are available for Windows 10. One of the best Clipboard viewing and managing programs designed for Windows 10 out there is one that goes by the name Clipdiary. Clipdiary is completely free and can be used to do everything from taking a look at every single thing you have copied to your computer’s Clipboard during your current session to deleting or editing specific Clipboard entries. And of course, you can use Clipdiary to freely copy things over from your computer’s Clipboard. To download and use Clipdiary to view your Clipboard history on Windows 10, you need to:

1. Click here to download a copy of Clipdiary.
2. Wait for the file to be downloaded.
3. The downloaded file is going to be executable, so as soon as it has been successfully downloaded, navigate to where it was downloaded to and double-click on it to run it.
4. With Clipdiary running, all you need to do is press Ctrl + D and it will pop up for you. You can then not only look at your Clipboard history but also retrieve things you have copied on to the Clipboard or edit your Clipboard history.

Clipdiary supports everything you could want to copy over to your computer’s Clipboard – from text and images to HTML links and even the names of files on your computer that you have copied on to the Clipboard.

How to use the new Windows 10 clipboard history and sync

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Windows 10 May 2019 update came with a lot of improvements and new features.

Among them, you’ll see a new Clipboard experience that allows you to access a history of copied items, sync your clipboard across multiple devices, and even pin your most frequently used items.

If you want to get the most out of your Clipboard, keep reading to learn how you can do all that.

How do I enable clipboard history and sync features?

Before you can access any of the new Clipboard features, you’ll first have to enable them in the Settings app, because they come disabled by default.

To enable Clipboard history and sync, follow the steps:

1. In your Windows search box type settings and click on the first result. You can also do it by clicking on the Start button and then on Settings.
2. In the Settings app, click on System.
3. In the left panel click on Clipboard.
4. In the right section you’ll see two options disabled: Clipboard history and Sync across device. Enable both of them.

Clipboard history will allow you to save multiple items that you can use later. Under Sync across device, you’ll see two options: Automatically sync text that I copy and Never automatically sync text that I copy.

The first option will sync clipboard items with your other devices, but if you’re worried about copying sensitive data, you’re better off with the second option.

The Never automatically sync text that I copy option will not automatically sync items and you’ll have to do that manually, by clicking the cloud icon next to them in the Clipboard panel.

How do I access my clipboard history?

After enabling Clipboard history and Sync across devices, you can use the features in any application:

1. You just have to press the Windows key + V and a Clipboard panel will appear.
2. In this panel you’ll see a history of items that you’ve copied to the clipboard, with the more recent ones at the top. To paste a certain item, click on it.
3. After that, it will be pasted in the current application.

You’ll also have the option to pin items, delete them, or clear the history. To do that, you’ll have to click on the three dots next to any of your items and the options will appear.

It’s worth mentioning that the history shows the last 25 items copied including URLs, text from web pages and docs, and images under 4 MB.

As for the sync option, enabling it in Settings will allow you to use copied items across your multiple devices. If you copy some text on one PC, you’ll be able to paste it on another.

Keep in mind that you’ll have to be signed in with the same Microsoft account on both devices for this to work.

As you can see, using the new Windows 10 Clipboard history is quite easy and useful, especially if you enable the sync feature and work on multiple devices.

If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to leave them in the comments section below and we’ll be sure to check them out.

How to View Clipboard History on Windows 10

Oct 4, 2018
Comment

If you use a clipboard manager app on Windows 10, updating to the Windows 10 October 2018 update may negate the need for it.

This new version lets you store your clipboard history and recall a previous entry with a simple keyboard shortcut. Here’s how you can view clipboard history on Windows 10.

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Clipboard History On Windows 10

First, make sure you’re on the October 2018 build by opening the run box, and typing winver in it. The version should be 1809.

Before you can view clipboard history on Windows 10, you need to first enable it. Open the Settings app and go to the System group of settings. Select the Clipboard tab, and turn on clipboard history.

You can view clipboard history on Windows 10 from this point forward. Anything that you copied before enabling it will not appear.

Where is my clipboard?

To view your clipboard history, tap Windows logo key +V. A little panel will open that will list all items, images, and text, that you copied to your clipboard. Scroll through it and click an item you want to paste again.

If you look closely at the panel, you will see that each item has a little pin icon on it. Clicking it will exempt the item from being cleared when you clear your clipboard history.

Speaking of which, you can clear your history by clicking the Clear all button on the clipboard history panel. You can also delete it from the Clipboard tab in the Settings app.

The clipboard can also be synced across devices but this option isn’t enabled by default.

A word of caution on clipboard history

Users tend to copy and paste sensitive information like logins, passwords, and even banking information to their clipboard.

This isn’t a good idea, ever, but before the October 2018 update, it wasn’t as dangerous because Windows only remembered the last entry on your clipboard.

If you enable clipboard history on Windows 10, you need to take special care that you do not copy sensitive information to your clipboard. If you do copy sensitive information to the clipboard, make sure that you clear it out immediately. You can remove individual items from your history.

Parting words

The history will persist past a system restart so you have to be proactive about keeping it clean.

Sensitive information shouldn’t be stored there but to make sure that it’s still usable, you should trim the items on the clipboard regularly so that only important items are kept long term.

There doesn’t seem to be any limit on how many items it can store but since this is a native Windows 10 feature, you can expect it to store a reasonably large number of items.

Windows 10 Clipboard FAQs

How do I turn on my clipboard history?

Select Windows logo key + V, and then select Turn on.

How do I sync my clipboard items to my Computer?

Select Start > Settings > System > Clipboard . Choose On under Sync across devices.

How do I clear my clipboard history?

Select Start > Settings > System > Clipboard > Clear clipboard data > Clear — this will clear everything on your device and the cloud, except for pinned items.

Select Windows logo key + V and then select the Clear all option at the top — this will clear your device clipboard history.

What if I want to get rid of something in the clipboard history?

Select Windows logo key + V to open the clipboard settings and then next to the item in question, select Delete.

How do I sync my clipboard to my phone?

Unfortunately, you can’t sync your clipboard history to your phone yet. This feature will be added in the future.

1 Comment

Thank you for sharing the post. I agree with you clipboard is a helpful windows user.

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