I spend lots of time on my pc. And, in course of the day, I would copy to my clipboard any variety of issues not meant for sharing—delicate info like passwords or 2FA codes, textual content from an early article draft, or a non-public quote from a buddy. Out of self-preservation, I nuke these contents as quickly as I’m performed with them, simply in case I move the improper info to the improper individual on the improper time.

I might clear the clipboard in Windows 10 or 11 by way of the Clipboard settings (sort “clipboard” into the Start Menu or search menu) and I’d if I had the choices for Clipboard history and/or Sync throughout gadgets turned on. It’s the one option to completely flush these saved bits and bytes.

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However, since I purposely hold my clipboard offline and as bare-bones as potential, I wipe my historical past with a good quicker methodology. It occurs by way of a decades-old (however nonetheless extremely highly effective) Windows keyboard shortcut: Win + R.

That command brings up the Run field in Windows, into which I paste this command: cmd /c "echo off | clip" after which hit the Enter key. It blanks out the clipboard’s single entry.

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After you’ve performed this as soon as, you possibly can hit that very same Win +R, Enter combo inside a literal second—assuming you don’t use the Run field for the rest. If you do, you possibly can nonetheless arguably clear the clipboard quicker with this keyboard shortcut. The command stays within the Run field’s historical past, so you must be capable to hit Win + R, sort “cmd” to carry up the entry, choose it with the down arrow key, after which hit Enter nearly as rapidly.

This little trick might sound sophisticated, nevertheless it actually isn’t. I exploit it a number of instances in a day and doing so has saved my bacon just a few instances from sharing one thing I didn’t imply to as a result of I acquired my energetic home windows combined up whereas utilizing utilizing Alt + Tab.

That’s one other nice keyboard shortcut to have in reminiscence—if you happen to don’t already understand it and different improbable time-savers, take a look at our checklist of the top Windows keyboard commands you must know. Remembering them can take a while, however upon getting them down, you’ll zip via Windows navigation quicker than along with your mouse. Afterward, you possibly can dive into the best Chrome keyboard shortcuts, these nifty Slack keyboard shortcuts, and these 8 new keyboard shortcuts for Windows 11. They’re well worth the effort!