I bet you're reading this because you don't use a clipboard manager.
Some of you may not even know what a clipboard manager is.
In a nutshell, a clipboard manager is a computer program that adds functionality to an operating system's clipboard. Many clipboards provide only one buffer for the "copy and paste" function, and it is overwritten by each new "copy" operation.
Well, a clipboard manager extends this limit, making your items searchable and quicker to retrieve.
Here are the 3 reasons you should use one today.
- You copied some data to the clipboard and then accidentally overwrote it. That's no longer a problem, it's still there!
- You need to copy a few bits of info from one app to another. Rather than hopping between them, copy them all first then paste them in the order required. Easy.
- Do you use several usernames and passwords? You no longer need to keep a spreadsheet with the info to delve into. It's all in your handy clipboard. Now really you should use a password manager, but if they aren't sensitive logins, this works just as well too.
See I told you a clipboard manager is awesome!
There are tonnes of other uses, but I bet you already know what reason you'd use one for, so what are you waiting for, download one today! Most are free so it won't do any harm trying one. They even have mobile versions too. Here are a few I'd recommend.
The one I use on a regular basis and my personal favourite starts us off before I run through Mac, Android and IOS alternatives.
What are your thoughts on clipboard managers? Do you use one already? If you have a personal favourite I'd love to hear it!
Top comments (15)
Clipboard managers sketch me out because I use a password manager. I don't even like the new Windows Cloud Clipboard, and I have a pretty high degree of faith that Microsoft is not snooping on or selling my clipboard data behind my back. Just having a recorded history of the sensitive pieces of information I have had on my clipboard at one time or another makes me uncomfortable.
This is the single worst piece of security-related advice I've seen on Dev. I don't mean to be a jerk, but this is downright dangerous even though you do mention that a password manager is a better for managing credentials than a clipboard manager.
I'm a developer, I have multiple environments, logins, and systems that I need to access as different users and personas. This is even more true for our testers. It's a lot easier to use a tool than typing testuser1@company.com with my arbitrary passwords every time. I'm not stating you should be saving your banking details and social media credentials in your clipboard manager, although if your copy and pasting them from elsewhere anyway, they'll be there by default!
Let's not lie to ourselves that people don't have files full of credentials lying around on their desktop 😊
It's an interesting take on data security. I don't think ditto will take your details off the system, as they're all stored locally, without any syncing capability integrated. I'm more worried about the questions I ask Google by all accounts!
Thanks for adding to the discussion
Absolutely. And a clipboard manager without a blacklist of programs (to blacklist said password managers) is useless and dangerous!
On macOS I use Pastebot - $12.99 tapbots.com/pastebot/
I used to use jumpcut, which is free - snark.github.io/jumpcut/ but at the time that I bought pastebot, jumpcut didn't work on Catalina - looks like they just updated it for the first time in a decade this past september.
Couldn't agree more how convenient a clipboard manager is!
They're great eh! Definitely one of my most used tools. Well worth paying for it if you feel it's worthwhile
Been telling people about clipboard managers for ages. Always surprised when people have no idea what I'm talking about.
Big fan of CopyQ which is cross platform so I can use it everywhere.
You can also setup rules of where you don't want to keep a copy (like from your password manager)
Using Ditto here, it's a life saver 😃
Ditto is the best
Is it named after the pokemon??
Love how you included all OSes.
Thanks Louise. Hope it helps someone.
Didn't know this things existed!
Good article. I have been using Flycut in mac for over a year. It's pretty simple, free and does the job perfectly.
Great to hear you've found a decent clipboard for you! They're pretty great eh!
The default clipboard provided by windows is also good for solving copy paste problem