ClipTen Clipboard viewer
What is on my clipboard?
A free clipboard viewer. Click the box, press Ctrl V, and see exactly what you last copied — every format, not just the text.
Runs in this tab only. Nothing is uploaded, saved or logged.
Where is the clipboard, actually?
Not in a folder. The clipboard is a small space in memory that Windows keeps for the one thing you copied last. You cannot open it like a file, which is why so many people search for it and find nothing. There are only three ways to look at it:
- Paste it somewhere, like the box above.
- Press Win V on Windows 10 or 11 for your last 25 copies, once clipboard history is switched on. How to turn it on.
- On a Mac there is no built-in viewer before macOS Tahoe. Clipboard history on Mac.
Why one copy shows up as several things
Copy a sentence from a web page and paste it above: you will usually see two entries, plain text and HTML. That is not a bug. When you copy, the app offers the same thing in every format it can, and the app you paste into picks the richest one it understands.
This explains a problem almost everyone has had: text that arrives in the wrong font, size or colour. The document took the HTML version. To get only the words, paste with Ctrl Shift V in most browsers and many apps, or Paste Special › Unformatted text in Word. Every paste shortcut on Windows.
| What you copied | What the clipboard usually holds |
|---|---|
| Text in Notepad | Plain text only |
| Text on a web page | Plain text and HTML |
| Cells in Excel | Plain text (tab-separated), HTML, rich text, and Excel’s own formats |
| A screenshot (Win Shift S) | An image |
| Files in File Explorer | A list of the files, not their contents |
Browsers only pass on the formats they are allowed to, so the viewer shows what a web page can see, which is most of it.
Using it to fix “copy and paste not working”
If paste does nothing, copy something and press Ctrl V in the box above.
- It shows your copy: copying works. The problem is the app you are pasting into — some sites and remote desktops block paste.
- It shows something older: the copy did not happen. Try again with the text selected, or right-click › Copy. A clipboard tool or remote desktop session can also be holding on to it.
- It shows nothing: restart the Clipboard User Service or the PC. The five usual causes.
How to clear the clipboard
On Windows 10 or 11: Settings › System › Clipboard › Clear clipboard data, or press Win V and choose Clear all. Pinned items stay. Worth doing after copying a password on a shared computer.
When one clipboard is not enough
Everything above comes down to one limit: the clipboard holds a single thing, and every copy throws the last one away. If you keep copying the same few things back and forth, ClipTen gives you ten of them on your number keys — Ctrl + C + 1 to save, Ctrl + V + 1 to paste. Every way to copy several things at once, free ones included.
Last checked September 2026.