I changed Windows clipboard historical past with a free app that remembers virtually all the things

If you ask me, clipboard historical past is arguably probably the greatest options ever added to Windows. I keep in mind discovering this feature a couple of years in the past, and it felt like I had simply discovered the best factor ever. I may actually press Windows + V and see/paste tons of issues I’d copied earlier.

Windows clipboard historical past has gone by way of a couple of modifications over time, however one thing that has stayed the identical is its restrict. You see, clipboard history only allows you to store up to 25 copied items. As a author who copies a number of phrases, phrases, sentences, hyperlinks, and pictures to make use of later, that may really feel fairly limiting generally.

I needed extra, so I ventured out and located Ditto. It takes all the things I like about Windows clipboard historical past and offers me way more management.

Ditto’s clipboard historical past is virtually limitless

I can determine what number of copied objects I need to maintain

The greatest cause I switched to Ditto is easy: I wanted to have the ability to retailer extra entries. Ditto lets me set my very own restrict for what number of clipboard entries it ought to maintain. I may set it to twenty if I needed a smaller historical past, or go all the way in which as much as 100, 1,000, or much more relying on how a lot historical past I need to retain.

I set mine to 200, which seems like the correct stability for the way in which I work. I copy rather a lot all through the day, however I do not essentially want hundreds of previous clipboard entries sitting there without end.

What I like much more is that Ditto would not clear my clipboard historical past once I restart my PC. By default, Ditto saves copied textual content, photographs, and hyperlinks to a neighborhood database, so my clipboard historical past survives a Windows restart. With Windows clipboard historical past, I do not get that luxurious for odd copied objects (apart from pinned objects).

This could be very useful when I’m engaged on one thing over a number of days. If I copied a sentence, picture, or hyperlink earlier and forgot to put it aside elsewhere, I can nonetheless discover it in Ditto later. Of course, limitless historical past doesn’t suggest Ditto has to maintain all the things without end. The app lets me set how lengthy clipboard objects must be saved, so I can determine when older entries must be deleted.

You get a search characteristic and even an editor

I can search my complete clipboard historical past and alter an merchandise earlier than pasting it

An app that may retailer tons of or hundreds of clipboard entries wants a great way to search out one thing. Otherwise, having an enormous historical past would simply imply scrolling by way of a good larger checklist. Thankfully, Ditto has a search characteristic that makes this a lot simpler.

So, as an alternative of scrolling by way of days of clipboard historical past searching for one thing I copied earlier, I can open Ditto and sort a key phrase. The app instantly filters my clipboard historical past and reveals entries that match what I’m searching for.

Ditto additionally lets me edit clipboard entries earlier than pasting them, which is one thing I did not anticipate from a clipboard supervisor. Its editor is mainly a tiny notepad constructed into the app. I can open a copied textual content entry and make modifications earlier than sending it to wherever I would like it. And it is not restricted to plain textual content modifying both. The editor offers me choices to vary issues like font, font dimension, and textual content shade.

Ditto is free, light-weight, and extremely customizable

I get all these options with out paying for a subscription or utilizing many assets

The app runs in the background and, on my PC, makes use of lower than 5MB of reminiscence. That’s nothing in contrast with many fashionable purposes that sit within the system tray doing far much less. And then you’ve gotten the customization choices.

Windows clipboard historical past offers me Windows + V as its keyboard shortcut, and that is set in stone. Meanwhile, Ditto offers me a selection. Its default hotkey is Ctrl + Backtick (`), however I can change it to no matter shortcut I desire. I may also customise hotkeys for varied different instructions inside Ditto, so I haven’t got to rely solely on the defaults.

You may also tweak how the app appears to be like and feels. I can change issues such because the window dimension, transparency, fonts, themes, and the place of the clipboard window on the display screen. Mind you, there is no paid model hiding behind all these options.

Ditto is totally free, which makes the entire thing even simpler to advocate. I’m getting a way more succesful clipboard supervisor with out having to cope with a subscription, improve prompts, or a stripped-down free model.

I do not suppose I’ll return to Windows clipboard historical past

Windows clipboard historical past remains to be an superior characteristic, and I’m glad Microsoft added it. Being in a position to press Windows + V and get one thing I copied earlier is one thing I take advantage of consistently. But as soon as I began copying tons of of issues for work, the 25-item restrict turned tough to disregard. Ditto solved that downside for me, and the truth that it is free and makes use of few assets makes the choice even simpler.

OS

Windows

Developer

Scott Brogden

Price mannequin

Free, Open-source