Enable and Use Clipboard History in Windows 10

Clipboard history is here – ever copied a piece of text, and thought it would be useful to have a list of copied items to choose from?

Once Clipboard history is set up, you just press Windows+V. That means press the Windows key, and the V key and the same time. The Windows is usually to the left of the space bar. Some keyboards also have a Windows key to the right of the space bar.

What Gets Stored in Clipboard History?

Clipboard history first appeared in Windows 10’s October 2018 Update (Version 1809). There’s been several big updates since then. So there’s a good chance you’ve got a version of Windows 10 with it built in. It supports text, HTML, and images less than 4 MB in size. Larger items won’t be stored in the history.

Clipboard history stores a maximum of 25 entries, with the oldest items disappearing as new ones appear. Also, unless an item is pinned to the Clipboard, the history list for clipboard will reset every time you restart your computer or device.

How to Enable Clipboard History in Windows 10

First, click the “Start” button, and then click the “Gear” icon on the left side of the Start menu to open the “Windows Settings” menu. You can also press Windows+i to get there.

In Windows Settings, click on “System.”

On the Settings sidebar, click on “Clipboard.” In Clipboard settings, locate the section called “Clipboard history” and toggle the switch to “On.”

Clipboard history is now turned on. You can now close Settings and use the feature in any application.

How to View Clipboard History in Windows 10

Once you have enabled little “Clippy’s history”, you can call up a list of items you have copied recently while using any application. To do so, press Windows+V.

A small window will pop up. The most recent items you’ve copied are at the top of the list.

You can click on any item in the history list to paste it into an open application.

To remove items from history, click on the ellipses (three dots) beside the item you’d like to delete. In the picture above, the three dots are to the right of ‘covid announcement today’. Select “Delete” from the small menu that pops up.

If you’d like to remove all the items from the history, click “Clear All” In the ellipses (three dots) menu.

It’s also possible to pin an item on the history list. That way, it will stay on the list even if you reboot the computer or click a “Clear All.” To do so, click on the three-dot menu and select “Pin.” You can unpin the item later by selecting “Unpin” from the ellipses menu.

While the history window is open, you can click on any item in the list to paste it into an open application or document.

How to Disable Clipboard History in Windows 10

To turn off Clipboard history in Windows 10, navigate to Settings > System > Clipboard. Locate the option titled “Clipboard history” and toggle the switch to “Off.” So the opposite you do to turn it on.

Once disabled, if you press Windows+V, you will see a small window alerting you that Windows 10 cannot show your history because the feature is turned off.

Safety concerns

You can share or sync Clipboard history across devices. There’s an option under Settings > System > Clipboard. Locate the option titled “Sync across devices”. Whilst this is useful if you use multiple computers and other devices, please be aware that this could increase the chances of a partner or a household member accessing your synced content on, for example, a laptop in a another room.

There’s also an option to clear clipboard data, excepted pinned items. It’s under Sync across devices.