How to see clipboard history on a Chromebook

Open the clipboard with Search + V

Google's help pages call the key Search or Launcher, depending on your keyboard, and say both work the same. Google's 2021 announcement of the feature called it the Everything Button. On a Windows keyboard plugged into a Chromebook, press the Windows key instead, and on a Mac keyboard the Command key.

1. 1Copy as usual with Ctrl + C. Screenshots and screen recordings are copied to the clipboard automatically, so they show up too.
2. 2Click or tap where you want to paste.
3. 3Press Search + V, or Launcher + V.
4. 4Use the arrow keys or Tab to highlight an item, then press Enter to paste it.

Two other ways in: in a text box on a web page in Chrome, right-click and choose Paste from clipboard to see the same list; on the on-screen keyboard, select the Clipboard button and tap an item.

What the Chromebook clipboard keeps

It keeps the five most recent copies, and the sixth pushes the oldest out. It is not limited to plain text: ChromeOS's clipboard code accepts images, formatted text from web pages and documents, plain text and files copied in the Files app. Google documents no way to pin an item, so something you paste every day will drop off after five more copies. Google's help pages also do not say whether the list survives a restart or sign-out, so treat it as short-term memory and keep anything you need in a document or note. The clipboard is available once you are signed in, including in Guest mode, but not on the lock screen, in kiosk apps or in managed guest sessions.

Remove an item or clear the list

Each item in the Search + V menu has its own delete button: point at the item and select it. On the on-screen keyboard, open the clipboard, long press an item to select it, then tap Delete. Google does not document a clear-all button. With only five slots, the quick way to flush the list is to delete each item, or to copy five harmless things, such as single letters, which push everything older out.

Do this before you hand the Chromebook to someone else or share your screen, since a copied password or address can sit in the list until it is pushed out.

Copy, paste and paste as plain text

The basic shortcuts match a Windows PC: Ctrl + C copies, Ctrl + X cuts, Ctrl + V pastes the most recent item and Ctrl + Z undoes. Ctrl + Shift + V pastes as plain text, without the formatting the text had on the page you copied it from. Without a keyboard shortcut, press or tap the touchpad with two fingers to right-click and choose Copy or Paste. To see every shortcut on your Chromebook, press Ctrl + Search + S.

Android apps and Linux apps

Android apps from Google Play share the Chromebook clipboard, so you can copy in Chrome and paste into an Android app; Google's admin documentation treats Android apps as one paste destination that an administrator can restrict. Linux apps in the Linux development environment share it too, within limits Google documents for developers. ChromeOS hands Linux apps plain text, HTML, PNG images and lists of files, and accepts text, RTF, HTML, file lists and images (including PNG and JPEG) back from them. Linux apps cannot read the clipboard on their own, only when you paste; Google says this is deliberate, so untrusted code cannot silently collect what you copy. Tools such as xclip keep a separate buffer inside Linux that does not sync with ChromeOS.

When Search + V does nothing

Work through these in order. Most failures are a remapped key, a changed shortcut or a managed device.

1. 1On a Windows or Mac keyboard, press the Windows key + V or Command + V. Those keyboards have no Search key.
2. 2Check that the Search or Launcher key still does its normal job: open Settings, Device, Keyboard and inputs, then Customize keyboard keys. A Search key remapped to Caps Lock will not open the clipboard.
3. 3Check the shortcut itself. Press Ctrl + Search + S to open the Shortcuts app, find the clipboard shortcut, select Edit, then Restore defaults. To undo every change at once, select Reset all shortcuts on the left.
4. 4Make sure you are signed in and past the lock screen. The clipboard menu does not open on the lock screen, in kiosk apps or in managed guest sessions.
5. 5Copy something new and try again, since the list only fills as you copy.
6. 6On a school or work Chromebook, ask your administrator whether clipboard history has been turned off.

What school and work administrators can restrict

On a managed Chromebook, two settings affect the clipboard. The ClipboardHistoryEnabled policy, available in ChromeOS 157 and later, turns clipboard history off: the menu cannot be opened and any stored items are cleared. Separately, ChromeOS data controls let an administrator allow, report, warn on or block copy and paste based on where the content came from and where it is going, for example blocking pasting from Google Workspace into sites outside work. Android apps and Linux count as single destinations, so a rule covers all Android apps rather than one. If data controls are on, the administrator can see the action, the source and destination, and the file name or page title, but Google says not the content itself.

If you use a phone or computer alongside the Chromebook

Clypy has no ChromeOS app, no web app and no browser extension, so on the Chromebook itself the built-in clipboard is what there is. If the other devices you use are a Windows PC, a Mac, a Linux computer, an iPhone or an Android phone, Clypy keeps an unlimited clipboard history on each of them for free, with no account, and Clypy Pro (a one-time $29.99) syncs that history between them with end-to-end encryption. It will not include the Chromebook.