4 Ways to Clear Clipboard History in Windows 10

One of the most commonly used Windows features is Copy & Paste. However, we may not now that if you copy some content on Windows, it stores in the Windows clipboard and remains there until you delete it or paste that content and copy other content. Is there something to worry about? Yes, suppose you copied some important credentials and forgot to delete it, anybody using that computer can get access to those copied credentials easily. This is why it is essential to clear clipboard history in Windows 10.

In a technical term, Clipboard is a special section of RAM memory to store temporary data. It stores your copied content until you copy other content. Clipboards store one item at one time. It means if you copied one piece of content, you cannot copy other content. If you want to check what content you have copied previously, you simply need to press Ctrl + V or right-click and choose the Paste option. Depending on the file type you can choose the place where you want to paste, suppose if it is an image, you need to paste it on Word to check the copied content.

Now starting with Windows 10 October 2018 Update (Version 1809), Windows 10 introduced a new Clipboard to overcome the limitations of the old Clipboard.

Contents

• Why Clearing Clipboard is important?
• 4 Ways to Clear Clipboard History in Windows 10
• If you still didn’t update to Windows 10 Version 1809: 
• Method 1 – Copy other content
• Method 2 – Use the Print Screen button on your device
• Method 3 – Reboot Your Device
• Method 4 – Create a Shortcut for clearing Clipboard
• If you have updated to Windows 10 Version 1809: 
• Method 1 – Clear Clipboard items synced across devices
• Method 2 –  Clear Specific Item in Clipboard History

Why Clearing Clipboard is important?

It is highly recommended to clear the clipboard whenever you shut down your system. If your clipboard stores sensitive data, it can be accessed by anyone using your computer. Therefore, it is better to clear the clipboard data especially if you use a public computer. Whenever you use a public computer and copy any content make sure you clear the clipboard before leaving that computer.

4 Ways to Clear Clipboard History in Windows 10

Make sure to create a restore point just in case something goes wrong.

If you still didn’t update to Windows 10 Version 1809: 

Method 1 – Copy other content

One of the easiest ways to delete the important data stored in the clipboard is copying other content. Clipboard holds one copied content at one time, thus if you copy other non-sensitive data or any simple alphabets, it will clear your previously copied sensitive data. This is the fastest way to secure your sensitive and confidential data to be stolen by others.

Method 2 – Use the Print Screen button on your device

Another easiest and fastest mode of deleting clipboard copied content is pressing the print screen button on your device. The print screen button will replace the copied content. You can press the print screen button on the empty desktop, thus, the clipboard will store an empty desktop screen.

Method 3 – Reboot Your Device

Another way to clear clipboard history is to restart your computer. But restarting your computer every time you want to clear clipboard is not that much of a convenient option. But this is indeed one of the methods to successfully clear your clipboard items.

Method 4 – Create a Shortcut for clearing Clipboard

If you frequently clear the clipboard history, it would be better to create a shortcut for this task on your desktop. Thus, whenever you want to clear clipboard history in Windows 10, just double-click on that shortcut.

1.Right-click on the desktop and choose to create a shortcut option from the contextual menu.

2.Type cmd /c echo off. | clip in the location box and click on the Next button.

3. In the next step, you need to type the Name of that shortcut. You can give Clear Clipboard name to that shortcut, it will be easy for you to remember that this shortcut is for cleaning the clipboard content.

4.Now you will be able to see the Clear Clipboard shortcut on your desktop screen. Whenever you want to clear the Clipboard, just double-click on the Clear Clipboard shortcut.

If you want to change its look, you can change it.

1.Right-click on the clear clipboard shortcut and choose Properties option.

2.Here you need to click on the Change Icon button as given in the below image.

It would be better if you check whether this shortcut is properly working or not. You can copy some content and paste it on Word or text file. Now double-click on the clear clipboard shortcut and try pasting that content again on text or word file. If you’re not able to paste the copied content again then this means that the shortcut is effective in clearing the clipboard history.

If you have updated to Windows 10 Version 1809: 

Method 1 – Clear Clipboard items synced across devices

1.Press Windows Key + I to open Settings then click on System.

2.Click on Clipboard.

3.Under Clear clipboard data, click on the Clear button.

Follow the above steps and your clipboard history will be cleared from all devices and from the cloud. But for the items that you pinned in your clipboard experience have to be deleted manually. 

Method 2 –  Clear Specific Item in Clipboard History

1.Press Windows key + V shortcut. The below box will open up and it will show all your clips saved in the history.

2.Click on the X button corresponding to the clip you want to remove.

Following the above steps, your selected clips will be removed and you will still have access to complete clipboard history.

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I hope the above steps were able to help you Clear Clipboard History in Windows 10 but if you still have any questions regarding this guide then feel free to ask them in the comment section.