# Why aren't multiple clipboards a standard integrated feature?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-multiple-clipboards-a-standard-integrated-feature/569074
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 26, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-multiple-clipboards-a-standard-integrated-feature/569074 "2011-01-26T18:11:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-multiple-clipboards-a-standard-integrated-feature/569074/1 "2011-01-26T18:11:38Z")
I’ve used a couple of different programs to accomplish this over the years but it seems like such a simple feature to include in the OS. Why do the major OS’s only give you one clipboard? Do they think it’s not useful to enough people to be worth including? Do they think a lot of users are too stupid to use it properly? Something else entirely?
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### Author:  [@iamnotbatman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamnotbatman)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2011, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-multiple-clipboards-a-standard-integrated-feature/569074/2 "2011-01-26T18:23:07Z")
I don’t have an answer, but I have always wondered this also. Also a ‘clipboard history’ of some sort would be very useful and easy to implement. I think there used to be something built into Windows (clipbook) but it has since been eliminated.
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### Author:  [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-multiple-clipboards-a-standard-integrated-feature/569074/3 "2011-01-26T18:38:06Z")
I vaguely remember using a program that had this. I think you could paste the last four things you clipped. I don’t remember which program it was, but I do remember thinking it was pretty cool.
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### Author:  [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-multiple-clipboards-a-standard-integrated-feature/569074/4 "2011-01-26T18:38:34Z")
MS Office has had such a clipboard for ten years already. Or did you mean something else?
Anyway, throughout the 1990s I had wanted this feature, and then as soon as it was available, it turned out to be more trouble than it’s worth, and now I always turn it off. If I have to go to a separate window to choose which clip I want to paste this time, I might as well copy it from the original location; what do I need a multiple-choice clipboard for?
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### Author:  [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-multiple-clipboards-a-standard-integrated-feature/569074/5 "2011-01-26T18:46:58Z")
Most Linux distros have two, one for the middle mouse button and another for the usual cut/paste keystroke. I miss this feature when I’m on another OS.
But I imagine once you get to more then thee or four clipboards, the thing starts to get unweildy. You either have to burn a lot of different keystrokes (two per clipboard), which leaves fewer keystrokes for other tasks, or you have to have each clipboard use pull up a menu, which as **keeve** says, isn’t any more conveinent then just using one clipboard to do the same thing.
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### Author:  [@Al\_Bundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al_Bundy)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-multiple-clipboards-a-standard-integrated-feature/569074/6 "2011-01-26T19:19:28Z")
I have tried all the multiple clipboards that come along. At this time I like Yankee Clipper. Clip Tray was good, but kept losing the permanent filings and caused system problems. Unlimited clips should be a part of any OS.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2011, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-multiple-clipboards-a-standard-integrated-feature/569074/7 "2011-01-26T19:31:26Z")
I’ve never come up with an occasion where multiple clipboards would have been the least bit useful. After the first, you have to go through some sort of rigmarole to select the clipboard you want. I’ve played with the software and never needed to use it; I uninstalled it after a few months.
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### Author:  [@J\_Cubed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_Cubed)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-multiple-clipboards-a-standard-integrated-feature/569074/8 "2011-01-26T19:43:47Z")
I use 3D Clipboard on Windows XP and a clipboard gadget on Windows 7. They both offer all you really need: a history. And I still find myself just recopying something rather than looking back through the history sometimes.
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### Author:  [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2011, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-multiple-clipboards-a-standard-integrated-feature/569074/9 "2011-01-26T23:21:36Z")
The KDE desktop for Linux has “klipper”, a little program with an icon in the corner of the taskbar that shows your clipboard history when clicked. But what i’ve always thought is more useful is that text is automatically copied when you highlight it, and pasted with a middle click, avoiding keyboard and mouse menus altogether. I dont know why windows is still so basic, this has been part of KDE over 10 years at least. It’s very frustrating to copy and paste in windows if youre used to that.
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### Author:  [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2011, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-multiple-clipboards-a-standard-integrated-feature/569074/10 "2011-01-27T04:25:27Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> I’ve never come up with an occasion where multiple clipboards would have been the least bit useful. After the first, you have to go through some sort of rigmarole to select the clipboard you want. I’ve played with the software and never needed to use it; I uninstalled it after a few months.
There are a few statements that I type over and over, on different quotes that I do. I’d love a way to have multiple permanent clipboards.
Dear customer:
\
\
\
Sincerely,
ToC
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### Author:  [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2011, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-multiple-clipboards-a-standard-integrated-feature/569074/11 "2011-01-27T04:54:50Z")
[http://ditto-cp.sourceforge.net/](http://ditto-cp.sourceforge.net/)
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### Author:  [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2011, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-multiple-clipboards-a-standard-integrated-feature/569074/12 "2011-01-27T05:26:50Z")
I use Clipboard Magic. (free)
I do a lot of picture posting on different message boards and they take different styles sometimes so it is very useful when I have 3-4 different start positions in different albums I am using and different thumbnails I am making into links.
I do not save day to day, just what I am doing that session or day. I do not keep 47 windows open so I can wade through them getting all the clips each time I need them.
One click and they are all right there, click the one I want and paste where I am. Save me loads of time.
I do not clip pages of text or anything like that. 500 characters is a big clip for me.
YMMV
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### Author:  [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2011, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-multiple-clipboards-a-standard-integrated-feature/569074/13 "2011-01-27T12:45:47Z")
> [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](#):
>
> There are a few statements that I type over and over, on different quotes that I do. I’d love a way to have multiple permanent clipboards.
>
> Dear customer:
>
> \
> \
> \
>
> Sincerely,
> ToC
Please allow me to explain my confusion. Right now, you probably have some sort of file (a word processing document, for example) which has all that stuff in it, and it is open on your computer. So, any time you need Standard Statement #1, you go to that document, copy SS#1, go back to what you were doing and paste it in. Later on, when you need Standard Statement #2, you switch again, copy SS#2, go back, and paste it in.
But you seem to think that multiple clipboards would be easier. _In what way would it be easier?_ Any time you need something, you’d have to go to the clipboard to tell it which item you need, and then come back to what you were doing to paste it in. So where is the magical advantage that you are looking for?
(As I tell my students when I teach MS Word, computers are very fast, and they have great memories. But they can’t read minds. They don’t know what to do until you tell them. I think these “multiple clipboards” is a great example of where we want the computer to intuitively figure out what we want doing. But it’s not gonna happen.)
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2011, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-multiple-clipboards-a-standard-integrated-feature/569074/14 "2011-01-27T13:53:05Z")
\*\*Keeve \*\*- Agreed. It also sound like \*\*Tastes of Chocolate \*\*doesn’t know how to use the template features. Or the autocorrect feature. Either of which would make these docs a 2-click job.
Word can make everything a typical office worker does for repetitive document preparation doing very easy. But if you (any you) just use it like a typewriter with easy spelling correction plus cut and paste you’re leaving about 98% of its helpful capabilities unused.
Sometimes I swear the US could add 3 percentage points to GDP simply by training most office workers in how to actually use Office (or whatever equivalent product).
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### Author:  [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2011, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-multiple-clipboards-a-standard-integrated-feature/569074/15 "2011-01-27T13:58:07Z")
Auto correct for paragraphs is a great way to deal with the requirement for repetitive chunks of text.
My favorite application of it was a former manager who had his blackberry programmed so when he hit one letter it would autocorrect to:
I’m currently driving and can’t respond to your message, I’ll reply within 60 minutes.
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### Author:  [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2011, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-multiple-clipboards-a-standard-integrated-feature/569074/16 "2011-01-27T14:10:03Z")
**LSLGuy** and **Moonlitherial** have good ideas, but they are very application-specific. I imagine that the search for a good “multiple clipboard” is because it can be used in any application. For example, there are a gazillion websites where I have to type in my email address. But as far as I know, neither Firefox nor Internet Explorer have a feature where I can type something like “PW” and it will know to automatically replace it with my password. I have to either type it in myself, or paste it from somewhere, and a standard “multiple clipboard” WOULD be good for that (except I don’t see how it would be better than blah blah blah, for which see my previous post).
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2011, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-multiple-clipboards-a-standard-integrated-feature/569074/17 "2011-01-27T18:07:59Z")
I’m not sure I understand what a multiple clipboard is. Would it not be the same thing as a clipboard history?
A clipboard history is very useful, as it means you don’t lose something just because you cut or copy something else. And it is definitely a lot simpler than copying everything into a Word Document, as that means seven clicks for every cut/copy/paste operation (change tabs [paste], select, right click, copy, change tabs, right click, paste, change tabs [copy]) With a clipboard history, it’s three or four. (either select, right-click, copy or click on icon, choose, select paste). While that may not seem like a big savings, it is when you realize that using a menu means you don’t have to obscure your work.
Still, I’ll don’t use it as much anymore, but that’s because I don’t want to get used to it again and thus have problems again on computers that don’t have it. Well, that and most programs have a working undo history which is sufficient. I only use it in time sensitive situations, like taking multiple screenshots from a video.)
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### Author:  [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2011, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-multiple-clipboards-a-standard-integrated-feature/569074/18 "2011-01-27T19:00:21Z")
> [@Keeve](#):
>
> Please allow me to explain my confusion. Right now, you probably have some sort of file (a word processing document, for example) which has all that stuff in it, and it is open on your computer. So, any time you need Standard Statement #1, you go to that document, copy SS#1, go back to what you were doing and paste it in. Later on, when you need Standard Statement #2, you switch again, copy SS#2, go back, and paste it in.
>
> But you seem to think that multiple clipboards would be easier. _In what way would it be easier?_ Any time you need something, you’d have to go to the clipboard to tell it which item you need, and then come back to what you were doing to paste it in. So where is the magical advantage that you are looking for?
Most of what I’m repeatedly typing consists of one or two sentence statements, into an email, or into a vendors web portal.
If I store these in a seperate document, I have to 1) switch window 2) select and copy correct 3) switch window 4) paste selection. It’s generally easier to just retype my 2 sentences.
A multi-entry clipboard could be run through the right mouse button. In addition to “paste” add “clipboard”.
So 1) right click 2) select clipboard 3) select entry number.
And as **Keeve** mentioned, the same system could be used in Firefox, an Outlook email, and to paste into my companies in-house software. All without having to have additional software/windows open.
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### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2011, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-multiple-clipboards-a-standard-integrated-feature/569074/19 "2011-01-27T19:15:38Z")
> [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](#):
>
> A multi-entry clipboard could be run through the right mouse button. In addition to “paste” add “clipboard”.
> So 1) right click 2) select clipboard 3) select entry number.
Bingo! That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Maybe it only saves a couple of keystrokes but when you’re dealing with databases with tens of thousands of entries it would save many _thousands_ of keystrokes.
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### Author:  [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2011, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-multiple-clipboards-a-standard-integrated-feature/569074/20 "2011-01-28T03:08:38Z")
> [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](#):
>
> In addition to “paste” add “clipboard”.
> So 1) right click 2) select clipboard 3) select entry number.
Now I get it!
[insert smilie here, of a light bulb over my head]
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