How to turn on the Windows clipboard history
First, open the Settings app on your computer. Under System, you’ll find a section called Clipboard. Toggle the switch on to turn on the clipboard history. There are all sorts of clipboard managers you can download, but Windows users don’t need to, as the two latest editions of the operating system have one built in. The catch: it’s not that easy to find. When this function is on, a pop-up window will emerge every time you hit Win+V—there, you’ll be able to view your 25 most recently clipped items. You can scroll through recent clippings using your mouse or the up and down arrow keys. Select something by clicking it (or by hitting enter if you’re navigating with the keyboard) to immediately paste that snippet in whatever application you currently have open. Note that you can also pin things by clicking on the pin icon in the bottom right corner of every item. This is useful if you find yourself repeating the same message constantly, for example. To get started, head back to the Clipboard section in Settings and turn on Sync across your devices. Windows will ask you to sign into your Microsoft account, after which everything you copy will show up on all the devices you’ve logged into with the same Microsoft account. Note that you’ll have to enable the setting on each device. I tested this between two computers: one running Windows 10 and another running Windows 11. It worked perfectly, though I did need to restart one of the computers after turning on syncing before clippings started showing up. Note that if you’re running Windows 10 on your computer, you won’t be able to use clipboard syncing unless you’ve installed the October 2018 update, or any later one.
Clipboard syncing with Android phones
If you’re constantly switching between your computer and your phone, having one clipboard that works simultaneously on both can be a game-changer. Windows 10 and 11 can sync their clipboard with an Android device running 5.0 or newer, but only if you’re willing to replace your phone’s default keyboard with Microsoft’s Swiftkey. And that’s OK because Swiftkey is one of the best keyboard apps you can find. The app will ask you to sign into your Microsoft account, after which you’ll be able to paste on your computer all items copied on your phone, and vice versa. Even though Swiftkey is available for iOS and iPadOS, you won’t find this clipboard management feature on Apple devices, but that might change in the future.
