Tip of the Day; How to Use the New Windows Clipboard

Copy and paste is arguably one of the most used software features on mobile and desktop devices. This is because people are always transferring information (usually text and images) from one field to the other, or one app to the other. The copied items are held in a clipboard so the user can easily paste it wherever.

Microsoft in its October 2018 update introduced a new and refined clipboard. The new clipboard stores copied content (up to 4MB), allowing you to view and paste them from the clipboard history. This is averse to the old method that only supported copying one piece of content at a time and had no interface where the copied items can be viewed.

In addition to displaying your copied items, the clipboard also syncs and makes your data available and accessible across all your devices.

How To Use:

Clipboard adds a new keyboard shortcut to the popular Ctrl C + Ctrl V combo. You can now use the Windows key + V shortcut to bring up the new clipboard history. You’ll find a list of items (such as text and images) that you have copied from different applications (Microsoft Word, OneNote, PDF, etc) in the Clipboard interface.

To  use clipboard, you first need to enable it from the Settings app. Follow the steps below.

• Go to  Settings >> System >> Clipboard.
• Turn on the Clipboard history toggle switch.

Alternatively, you can enable Clipboard when you use the Windows key + V keyboard shortcut. If Clipboard history is off, you’ll be asked to turn it on.  Just click the Turn on button.

Then, to copy and paste content from your history, follow these steps:

• Select the text or image you want to copy.
• Use the CTRL C or CTRL X shortcut to either copy or cut, or right-click the selection and click the Copy or Cut option.
• Open the document or filed you want to paste the content in.
• Use the Windows key + V shortcut to open the clipboard history.
• Select the content you wish to paste and click on it. Your cursor must be placed in the field where you want to paste the item.

You can also pin the items that you wish to reuse.

• Use the Windows key + V shortcut to open the clipboard history.
• Click the Pin button at the top of the content to pin it.
• When you no longer need the content, click the button again to unpin or the X button to delete the item.

Clipboard doesn’t yet support copying of non-text or non_image files. Also, the cloud clipboard only supports images copied within a document and disregards image files copied from file explorer or the web browser.

Clipboard history is only accessible on computers running Windows 10 version 1809 or later, and the same Microsoft account must be signed in on them.

Anyone using clipboard must be careful when dealing with sensitive content like passwords and personal info. You must be sure to delete such data as anyone that gets a hold of the computer will be able to view the information by just using the Windows key + V shortcut.

To clear clipboard data,

• Go to  Settings >> System >> Clipboard.
• Under Clear clipboard data, click the Clear button.

Enabling sync for clipboard means your history will be uploaded to Microsoft servers. You should disable sync if you do not want to expose any sensitive data.

To turn off sync,

• Go to  Settings >> System >> Clipboard.
• Under Sync across devices, turn off the toggle switch.
  
  

Featured image source: Slim Gigs