5 Ways to Take Copy and Paste on Windows to the Next Level

Copy and paste are probably among the most common tasks we perform on our Windows PCs, be it retrieving text from the Internet for a document or exporting numbers from an Excel spreadsheet. It is a repetitive task that takes a lot of time, but one that most of us still rely on CTRL + C And CTRL + V Keyboard shortcuts. Your new laptop or PC offers many more copy and paste tools to save you time. For example, you can enable clipboard history to save and paste multiple items. Here are five unique ways to up your copy and paste game on Windows.

5 Enable clipboard history

When you copy text or images, they are saved to the clipboard. However, as soon as you copy something new, the previous item is usually overwritten. This can be tedious if you have to copy and paste multiple items repeatedly. A quicker option is to enable clipboard history, which keeps a list of your most recent items so you don't have to go back and copy again every time. When clipboard history is enabled, Windows stores up to 25 items, including text, code, and images. After activation, simply press VICTORY + V to access and use clipboard history CTRL + C to copy any entry from the list again.

To enable clipboard history, go to Settings > System > Clipboard and toggle the clipboard history switch. Note that as additional new items are copied, the oldest ones are automatically removed to maintain the upper limit of 25 items. Also, your clipboard history will be deleted every time you restart or shut down your device.

4 Use PowerToys Advanced Paste

PowerToys Advanced Paste allows you to paste text from your clipboard in various formats depending on your needs. You can paste as plain text, Markdown, or JSON, either through the UI or using a quick keyboard shortcut. Here's how to use it.

1. Open PowerToys and navigate to Advanced Insertion Settings page.
2. Turn on Enable Advanced Insertand activate it if it is not already activated Clipboard history as well as.

   

3. Open a plain text file or document and copy text.
4. Press Windows key + Shift + V to open the Advanced Insert menu.
5. From here you can choose whether you want to paste your text as plain text, Markdown or JSON.

   

If you paste the text as plain text, all formatting will be removed. Paste as Markdown preserves the formatting of the HTML content by converting it to Markdown. Paste as JSON formats the text as JSON, which is commonly used in programming and data files.

3 Insert text with AI

PowerToys Advanced Paste also has an option to paste text using AI. Enabling this feature will display an OpenAI prompt where you can enter the conversion you want – summarized text, translations, generated code, a rewrite from casual to professional style, or whatever comes to mind when inserting a modified text version. To set this up, you'll need an API key from OpenAI and available funds in your account.

1. Go to OpenAI API Keys page. and log in with your account or create a new one if necessary. Skip to step 5 if you already have a key.
2. Click on Create a new secret key Button.
3. In the secret key window, click Create secret key Button.

   

4. Click copy to copy the key to your clipboard.
5. Return to the PowerToys settings screen Advanced Insertion and click Activate button next to Enable Insert with AI.
6. Paste the API key into the field provided and click Save.

   

7. Open a text file or document and copy text.
8. Press Windows key + Shift + V to open the Advanced Insert menu. In the Describe what format you want In this field you can enter a unique prompt to use the AI ​​feature and convert it as you wish.

2 Paste without formatting

When you copy text from a web page or document, formatting such as font, size, and color is often retained when you paste it. However, using keyboard shortcuts, you can easily insert text without formatting Ctrl + Shift + V (commonly used in applications like Chrome and Gmail) or Ctrl + Alt + V (usually found in Microsoft Office).

If an app doesn't support a special keyboard shortcut to paste without formatting, you can right-click and select “Paste as plain text” or “Paste without formatting.” Alternatively, you can open Notepad, paste your text there first, and then copy it again. Notepad removes all formatting and leaves behind pure, unformatted text.

1 Copy text from images

You are not limited to copying text from documents and web pages only. You can also extract text from images using the Photos app for Windows 11 and Windows 10. It uses OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology to scan your photos, identify text, and make it available for copying like regular text.

Another way to copy text from images is to use the Snipping Tool, which also has built-in OCR. Make a cutout and then click Text actions Click the button on the Snipping Tool toolbar to make the text selectable. From there you can select the text with the mouse and copy it.

Easy copy and paste

Windows makes copying and pasting a breeze, whether you need to copy text from a web page or an image. Features like PowerToys Advanced Paste can save power users time by streamlining the process. If you're interested, you might also want to learn how to copy and paste more efficiently on your Mac or Chromebook.