How to Manage Your Clipboard History

Are you sick of switching between windows countless times to get the right information from one place to another? Not only is this pattern annoying, but it also wastes valuable time and welcomes errors.

However, Windows 11’s clipboard feature includes Clipboard History, which largely eliminates this issue. Let’s talk about what it is, what it can do, and—critically—how you can use it.

What is Windows Clipboard History?

Traditionally, copying something to the clipboard was a one-at-a-time prospect… the next thing you copied would overwrite the preceding item. In Windows 11, however, the Clipboard History offers a fix to this considerable drawback.

Instead of One, Why Not 25?

With Windows Clipboard History, you can store up to 25 recently copied text snippets and images. This allows you to go back and reference frequently used items more conveniently than by repeatedly reselecting and recopying the same text.

Plus, this means you can gather everything you need to copy over in one go and assemble all the snippets side by side. This is obviously much easier than the alternative, cutting down on the fatigue and frustration that come with the back-and-forth of copy-pasting.

Best Practices for Using Windows Clipboard History

There are a few tricks that Clipboard History offers that make it easier to work productively, so long as you use it with security in mind (something else that the Clipboard History helps you do). Here are a few brief examples:

• Clipboard History lets you pin items you have copied, preserving them for later use even after the computer is restarted. This makes it easy to insert boilerplate responses or other frequently used commands.
• Clipboard History also boosts your security by making it easy to clear any sensitive items that may have been saved across a team member’s workflows. Let’s say they had to copy various passwords, access codes, and/or other sensitive details. Chipboard History lets them wipe all contents—except pinned items—with a single click.

How to Make the Most of Clipboard History

To properly use Clipboard History, there are a few tips and tricks to keep in mind.

First and foremost, you need to access the tool. It can easily be pulled up using the shortcut Windows + V. Once you’ve done so, you can turn it on, and your entries into the clipboard will stack instead of overwriting each other.

To preserve something you’ve copied, select the pin icon next to your entry. The three-dot menu lets you paste that entry with a clickable button or delete it to make room for others.

This is great, but what if you have multiple devices to deal with? Well, with the right access, any device the user is signed in to can be synced to the same clipboard history, allowing text to be easily copied from one device and pasted on another. We can help businesses we work with set this up, along with many other features to boost work productivity.

Interested in Finding Out How Else We Can Help Optimize Your Day to Day?

Contact us to discuss our services as outsourced IT professionals and how they can help your business accomplish more with less stress. Give us a call at (847) 803-0044 today.