How Do I Clear My Clipboard History?

The clipboard does not have a “history”, and unless you are using a third-party clipboard manager (more on that later), there are three quick ways to wipe your clipboard:

• Shutting down or restarting the system.
• CTRL+C some harmless text from say a news website. This will wipe anything you copied before which you may want rid of.
• Go to a harmless site and press the PrintScreen key. This is a good quick option if you have to leave your computer for a moment and you have someone sitting next to you who might sneak a peek while you are away.

Now for two more ways that involve slightly more work.
The first one is to place a shortcut on the desktop which, when clicked, will wipe your clipboard. It may not start working, however, until you have restarted the system. Here’s what to do :

• Right-click on the desktop and choose > New > Shortcut.

In the shortcut box that now pops up, type the following :

cmd /c "echo off | clip"

• Click Next and give it a name, such as “Clear Clipboard“. Now click Finish.
• If you right-click on your new shortcut and choose Properties, you can also give the shortcut a logo, and a keyboard shortcut. But those are not necessary for the shortcut to work.