How to clear clipboard data with a shortcut on Windows 10
If you want to ensure that no one can’t access your clipboard history, use this trick on Windows 10.
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On Windows 10, the clipboard is a handy feature that has always been around, and it’s been designed to store data (such as text, images, video, files, etc.) temporarily for copy-and-paste operations.
When using the feature, only one piece of data can exist in the clipboard, once you copy (or cut) something else, the data is replaced with the new content. However,Windows 10also includes some improvements to track the text and images you copy to the clipboard along with settings and an interface to access the history.
Since the clipboard can store virtually any type of data, if you share your computer with other people, you may want to make sure that the storage is clear as you step out to protect any private information you might have copied to the clipboard.
Thisguidewill walk you through the steps to clear the data currently stored in the clipboard using a shortcut on Windows 10.
How to clear data of legacy clipboard on Windows 10
To clear the data stored in the clipboard on Windows 10, use these steps:
Once you complete the steps, the data in the clipboard will be deleted. Also, you can grab and drop to pin the shortcut to the taskbar for quicker access.
The instructions outlined above will only clear the content inside the clipboard. If you use the modern clipboard experience (“Windows key +V”), you also need to remove the history in a separate location.
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How to clear data of modern clipboard on Windows 10
The above instructions are to clear the data from the legacy clipboard. If you want to delete the history of themodern clipboard experience on Windows 10, you can complete this task in several ways.
Delete clipboard history with shortcut
To delete clipboard history with a shortcut, use these steps:
After you complete the steps, you can double-click the shortcut file or invoke the keyboard shortcut to clear the clipboard history on Windows 10.
The only caveat with this method is that you’ll need to confirm the elevation of the shortcut to run the batch script correctly. However, if you prefer, you can delete the history using the clipboard interface or Settings app with the following steps.
Delete clipboard history using shortcut
To delete one or multiple clipboard history entries, use these steps:
After you complete the steps, the clipboard history will be deleted, depending on your configuration.
Delete clipboard history using Settings
To clear the clipboard history on Windows 10, use these steps:
Once you complete the steps, the action will clear the data in the legacy experience and the history of the modern clipboard experience.
More resources
For more helpful articles, coverage, and answers to common questions about Windows 10, visit the following resources:
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Mauro Huculak has been a Windows How-To Expert contributor for WindowsCentral.com for nearly a decade and has over 15 years of experience writing comprehensive guides. He also has an IT background and has achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, and CompTIA. He has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years.
