The more time you spend working on a computer, the more you realize some tasks are repeated ad nauseam and take up valuable chunks of time. That can add up, and tools for scripting and automating processes are designed to help address this, but there's one kind of tool that doesn't get enough credit: clipboard managers.

Having a way to access a history of your clipboard items can save you a lot of time when it comes to a lot of repetitive tasks, and speaking personally, this kind of tool has dramatically changed how I use my computer and save time every day.

What's so good about clipboard managers?

Paste the same text over and over

The clipboard on a computer has always been a fairly limited, but essential feature. You copy a bit of text or an image from somewhere, and it goes onto the clipboard so you can paste it elsewhere. It stays in the clipboard until you copy something else, which then replaces it. Therein lies the biggest limitation of the classic clipboards: you can only save on item at a time.

This isn't a new problem, and solutions for it have been around for some time, to the point where most desktop operating systems now come with a solution for it out of the box. Windows has had a clipboard history for years at this point, Apple added it to Spotlight with macOS Tahoe, and some Linux desktops like KDE Plasma also include one. These solutions save everything you copy to the clipboard as a list of items, which you can bring up to select bits previously copied items.

And yet, these features tend to get overlooked. It doesn't help that Windows never tells you about the clipboard history unless you already know the keyboard shortcut to bring it up, which means most people probably don't even know it exists. But it's also worth noting that these built-in tools can still be somewhat limited. Windows 11 and macOS both keep clipboard items only for the current session by default, meaning they get deleted after a reboot, for example.

But there are better solutions, and they're still free.

Raycast is the best clipboard manager

And it's free

I have spent longer than most people writing about how great Raycast is, but before I get into all the reasons why, let's focus on why the clipboard manager is so great. As mentioned above, one big limitation of the built-in clipboards in Windows and macOS is that they only hold on to clips for the current session. At least Windows lets you pin items you want to retain, but you still have to do it manually.

Raycast comes with a clipboard history manager that's absolutely wonderful. Not only does it load instantly at the press of a shortcut of your choice, but it can save everything you copy across sessions, so nothing gets deleted just because you restarted your computer. By default, history is saved for seven days, but the free version of the app lets you save items for up to three months, which is already fantastic.

I rely on this tool every single day, and it's a huge time saver. The most frequent use case I have for it is when i compile the XDA newsletter. In the opening paragraph, we typically close it with a link to follow us on Google News, and that formatting would take a couple of minutes to do in full every time. But I just went into the HTML code, copied the entire formatting, and now it's always accessible. I just summon the clipboard, type in "love", and the result immediately appears so I can enter it into every edition.

Code samples are one of the best use cases for this, really. Another example I came across recently was copying the code that allows me to add hyperlinks to an image using our CMS. It's an easily reusable bit of text that would take too long to type and remember accurately, so this is perfect.

Oh, yes, if it wasn't clear, the clipboard in Raycast is also searchable. Just type in a bit of the text you copied, and you can find it. In fact, it can even detect text in images you've copied to the clipboard, so you can find screenshots that way, too.

It does even more

Plus it works on multiple platforms

The Raycast clipboard has even more useful little features, too. Not only does it save text, but it also retains images, and it automatically recognizes text in them. You can disable this, of course, but it does make images easier to find. When you select an image from the clipboard, you also have the option to copy the recognized text from it, or save that image as a file directly.

Raycast also saves a good bit of extra information about the contents of an item, such as word and character counts for bits of text, or the exact resolution and size of an image. Perhaps most notably, if you copied a link, Raycast will also load information about it when you select it, so you can see a thumbnail and title preview before opening it. It makes it much easier to browse through your history.

The best part about Raycast, though, is that it's available on both macOS and Windows, and if you spring for the Pro version of the app, you can actually sync your clipboard across your devices with Raycast. Even without syncing, though, this is stil incredibly helpful. And if you're a Linux user, there's an app called Vicinae that mimics most of the features of Raycast, including the clipboard manager. It's not quite as robust, but the core features are still there and it still works very fast.

There are alternatives, too

Raycast may not be for everyone

Of course, if you're not into the idea of Raycast, there are other options that also provide great functionality as clipboard managers. On Windows, I've tried numerous solutions, and options such as ClipClip and ArsClip are great. There are also other Raycast-like launchers like Flow Launcher that offer a clipboard management extension, too.

If you're on macOS, you might want to check out Pasty, which also does a great job of providing clipboard management with a tailored UI that looks very nice and provides good organization features. Linux users have various options, too, whether it's through dedicated apps ot things like GNOME extensions (if that's the desktop you use).

You don't have to stick to any one app, but having a clipboard manager in general is a blessing. You can browse around and pick whatever suits your taste the best. Of course, Raycast is my personal preference, so check it out below if you haven't.