The clipboard is a handy feature on Windows and it is mainly used to temporarily store data like images, text, files, and videos for copy-paste actions. If you are using the clipboard, you need to know that only one type of data can be there on it. Once you copy and paste this data to some other place, it can be replaced with a new type of data.
The upgraded versions of Windows operating system has a few functionality additions through which you can track what kind of data you are putting on clipboard and can even access the history. Since the clipboard can contain every kind of data, you need to clear it before you give your laptop to anybody else for use. This article will give you many different ways in which you can clear the clipboard on Windows.
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Why You Need to Clear Clipboard in Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7?
You may be wondering why you need to clear the clipboard on your Windows system. Well, there are two reasons why you may have to do this.
- By clearing the clipboard, you would be protecting your privacy. For instance, if you have put the login credentials of some account or have some other sensitive information on the clipboard, you will need to clear it.
- By clearing the clipboard, your computer’s performance also improves and the responsiveness of the functionalities on your computer speeds up. This happens because a large amount of data can be stored on the clipboard that might be slowing down your computer.
Where do I Find Full Clipboard Files on my Computer?
The clipboard history will show you all the files that you would have stored there. In both Windows 10 and Windows 11, you can easily access the clipboard history by pressing ‘Windows Logo’ key + ‘V’ key. You can pin or even copy and paste any file you want from here.
How do I Clear my Clipboard History on Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 8, and 7?
There are multiple ways in which you can clear the clipboard history, each way is described in detail below.
1. Shortcut to Clear Clipboard History on Windows
The best way to clear the clipboard history with just one-click anytime you want is by creating a shortcut for clearing the clipboard history on your desktop. You can do this by following the steps given below.
- Right click on an empty space in your desktop and click on ‘New’.
- Select ‘Shortcut’ and key in the following command in the given text field on ‘Create Shortcut’ window.
For Windows 11, cmd /c echo.|clip
For Windows 10, 8.1, 8, and 7, cmd /c “echo off|clip”
- Once done, click on ‘Next’.
- Name your shortcut and click on ‘Finish’.
- Whenever you wish to clear the clipboard, you can just double click on the shortcut.
2. Clear all Clipboard History Data from Settings
Another way in which you can clear the clipboard data from Windows is from the Settings option in the following way.
- From the ‘Start’ menu, select ‘Settings’.
- From ‘System’, go to ‘Clipboard’.
- Go to the ‘Clear clipboard data’ section and click on ‘Clear’.
3. Clear all Clipboard History from Win+V
This is the quickest and the easiest way to clear the clipboard history. For this, all you have to do is follow the steps given below.
- Press the ‘Windows Logo’ key + ‘V’ key. Once you do this, the clipboard tab will be launched.
- Click on ‘Clear all’ to remove all the items copied onto your clipboard.
- If you want to delete specific files from the clipboard, click on the three dots in front of the file you want to delete and then select the trash icon.
4. Clear Clipboard History with Command Prompt
Command Prompt is a pretty useful tool and you can easily clear the clipboard history using it in the following way.
- Right click on ‘Start’ and click on ‘Terminal’.
- Key in the following command to clear the clipboard history.
For Windows 11, echo.|clip
For Windows 10, 8.1, 8, and 7, cmd /c “echo off|clip”
How to Clear Clipboard on Windows XP?
The way to clear the clipboard on Windows XP is slightly different from the ways described above. Follow the steps given below to clear the clipboard on Windows XP.
- Click on ‘Start’ and launch ‘Run’.
- In the window, key in the following text.
clipboard OR clipbrd OR clipbrd.exe
- The Windows clipboard viewer will now be open on your screen and you can click on the ‘X’ icon in front of the files which you wish to delete and click on ‘Yes’ to delete them permanently.
Clear Clipboard Windows – FAQS
Ans: You can see the entire clipboard history by pressing ‘Windows Logo’ key + ‘V’ key.
Ans: The files and data on the clipboard will remain as it is until someone powers off the system or when new content replaces the current one.
Ans: Yes, Windows does keep the clipboard history where every file and data you have added to the clipboard gets saved.
Ans: Any process that is running on your computer, including your web browser, can access your clipboard history. This is why it is quite possible that any part of the clipboard history can be seen by someone else other than you.
Ans: The things on your clipboard will stay intact until you switch off your computer or copy another data or file onto it.
Conclusion
If you ever want to clear the clipboard history from your Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 8, 7, or XP, you can use any of the methods described above. Using the keyboard shortcut is one of the quickest ways to clear the clipboard history to maintain your file or data secrecy. Another highly recommended way is to use a shortcut which would save you a lot of time and effort anytime you wish to clear your clipboard contents or history.
