The clipboard is a temporary storage area in the computer's memory that stores copied or cut data. This data can then be pasted to other locations or applications that support the copy-paste feature. The shortcut to copying data is ctrl + C and cutting is ctrl + X while pasting is ctrl + V.
Basic Understanding of the Clipboard History
The clipboard feature was first introduced in Windows 8 and not so long ago with Windows 10, the clipboard history feature was introduced extending the clipboard functionality. The biggest upgrade with the clipboard history is the ability to hold more than one piece of data at a time (history of data). This was not possible with the earlier version of the clipboard which could only do one at a time. With this feature, you can paste not just the recently copied data but also the previous items in the history. You can access the clipboard history in Windows 11 by pressingWin + V on the keyboard.
Why clear the Clipboard History
This feature has proven very useful especially when working with various data. It eliminates the need to keep on copying. However, as helpful as it is, it brings about some privacy concerns. If you don't power off your computer, the data remains in the history. If the data is sensitive, the effects can be disastrous. For this reason, many people who use Windows 11 want to know how to delete the clipboard history.
By the end of this guide, you will see the different methods you can use to clear the clipboard history. Let's get started.
Clearing the Clipboard history from the System Settings
To clear the clipboard from the system settings, use the steps below.
-
Open settings by pressing
Windows + Ikeys on the keyboard.
-
Once in the settings tab, scroll down until you see the clipboard settings
-
Open the clipboard settings and click on clear clipboard data.
Clearing the clipboard history from the command prompt
You can also clear the clipboard history from the command prompt with the following steps.
Open the command prompt by pressing Win + R to open the run dialogue box then type "cmd". Once the command prompt is open, type the following command.
echo.|clip
This command will only clear the last entry on the clipboard. This is most likely not what you are looking for. So let's look at how to clear all the entries in the history from the clipboard's graphical interface.
Clearing the clipboard history from the in-app
To clear the history from the graphical interface, follow the steps below.
-
Open the clipboard GUI by pressing
win + V.
-
Once open, select the clear all button and all the entries will be deleted as shown below.
You can also delete one entry at a time by clicking on the three dots on the top right of each entry and then select delete from the options as shown below.
Summing Up
As we have established, the clipboard history has become useful to most of us but it can also cause some privacy concerns and that is where this article comes in. You have seen different methods to clear the clipboard if you feel concerned about your privacy. Note that the cmd method only clears the last entry from the clipboard. That is all for this. If the guide was helpful, share it with interested parties and subscribe to Geekbits.
Thanks for reading : )
