Windows 10 has a lesser-known feature that allows you to save time and see all the items that you copy, cut, and paste on your PC called Clipboard history. Previously referred to as Cloud Clipboard, Clipboard history first appeared in the Windows 10 October 2018 Update and lets you manage clipboard content across all your Windows 10 devices. Once enabled, Clipboard history will track all content that you copy, cut, and paste, even when you are using keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl + C, Ctrl + X, Ctrl + V) on Windows 10.
First, you need to turn on the Clipboard history feature, so here’s what you need to do:
1. Go to Settings (Windows key + I)
2. Go to System
3. Go to Clipboard in the left pane.
4. Toggle Clipboard history on
5. Toggle sync across devices on to sync your clipboard content across all of your Windows 10 devices
You will have to repeat these steps on all of your Windows 10 devices if you want the clipboard content to sync on all of your devices. If you don’t want to sync all content between your devices, you can choose “Never automatically sync text that I copy” and that way you can choose what specific Clipboard items you want to sync on all of your devices on an item-by-item basis. Alternatively, you can toggle Clipboard history on faster by using the keyboard shortcut Windows key + V. However, you will still need to go into settings and follow the steps above to enable the Clipboard sync across all of your Windows 10 devices.
When enabled, all you need to so is press Windows Key + V to bring up a list of all your Clipboard history content. Clipboard history will show up to 25 items, including text, HTML, and images less than 4 MB as shown below.
If you look closely in Clipboard in the settings, you may notice an option to Get an app to sync clipboard items to your phone. Once you click the link, you will be asked to enter your phone number to get the app that is required to sync clipboard items on your Android phone too.
I was unsuccessful trying to get access on my Android phone to my Clipboard history on Windows 10. I use Microsoft Launcher, Your Phone, and Microsoft SwiftKey, but I was unable to get this feature to work on my Android device. Upon further research (and much frustration), I discovered that the Clipboard history feature is only available on newer Samsung phones and the Surface Duo. The Samsung phones that support this feature are the “Samsung Galaxy Note20 5G, Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G, Samsung Galaxy S21 5G, Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G, Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G, and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip devices.” Of course, it would make a lot more sense for Microsoft to enable this feature for other (and older) Android phone brands, but unfortunately they don’t. So, you don’t have one of those Android phones, you are out of luck.
Do you use the Clipboard history feature on your Windows 10 devices? Let us know in the comments.
