Most people use copy and paste constantly, but very few know that Windows 11 has a built-in Clipboard History feature that remembers everything you have copied recently. Instead of being limited to the single most recent item, you can copy multiple pieces of text, images, or links during a working session and paste any of them at any point. Here is how to enable and use it.
How to Enable Clipboard History
Clipboard History is not turned on by default. The quickest way to enable it is to press Windows Key + V. If Clipboard History is disabled, a small panel will appear with a Turn on button. Click it to activate the feature.
Alternatively, you can enable it through Settings:
- Open Settings (Windows Key + I).
- Go to System > Clipboard.
- Toggle Clipboard history to the On position.
How to Copy Multiple Items and Paste from History
Once enabled, Windows silently records everything you copy in the background. You copy items normally using Ctrl + C, and the clipboard panel stores up to 25 of your most recently copied items.
To access and paste from your clipboard history:
- Click inside any text field or document where you want to paste.
- Press Windows Key + V.
- The clipboard panel will open, displaying a scrollable list of your recently copied text and images.
- Click any item in the list to paste it immediately at your cursor position.
How to Pin Items to Your Clipboard
If you have a piece of text you use frequently — such as a standard email signature, a phone number, or a frequently used code snippet — you can pin it so it never gets pushed out of the 25-item list and is not cleared when you restart your computer.
Open the clipboard panel with Windows Key + V, then click the three-dot menu (…) next to any item and select Pin. Pinned items will appear at the top of the list with a pin icon, and they will persist across restarts indefinitely until you manually unpin or delete them.
How to Clear Your Clipboard History
To clear your entire clipboard history for privacy, open the panel with Windows Key + V and click the Clear all button at the top right of the panel. This will remove all items except those you have pinned. To delete a single item, click the three-dot menu next to it and select Delete.