2 Best Ways to Check and Recover Clipboard History on Android

The clipboard is where the texts you copy to your smartphone are stored. The default Android clipboard functionality, however, only allows you to retrieve (read: paste) the recent entry, i.e. the last text you copied. What happens to the email address you copied 30 minutes before copying other text? Do you have to retype it? Nope. Not if you can check and recover the contents of your device’s clipboard.

In this article, we review two (2) common but effective ways to check the clipboard history on an Android smartphone. When you finish reading this, you would have learned how to easily recover any previously copied text without ever having to worry about losing it. Oh, by the way, you will soon be able to copy images (not just text) to your Android clipboard soon. Exciting moments, right?

1. Use of the Google keyboard (Gboard)

One of the easiest ways to view and retrieve clipboard history on an Android device is to use the keyboard. Interestingly, many keyboard applications now have a clipboard manager that can be used to access previously copied texts. We have listed some of the best Android keyboards with clipboard history support, but in this article we will show you how to recover clipboard history using Gboard, the official keyboard app from Google.

GBoard is the most used Android keyboard application installed on the Google Playstore. It is very reliable and easy to use. All of this can be attributed to the fact that it comes pre-installed on most Android devices. The Clipboard Manager feature was integrated into the Gboard app about two years ago, and here’s how you can use it to check and retrieve clipboard history on your Android smartphone.

Step 1: When typing with Gboard, tap the clipboard icon next to the Google logo.

This launches the Gboard clipboard manager.

2nd step: To retrieve a particular text / clip from the clipboard, simply tap it to paste it into the text box.

caveat: By default, clips / texts from the Gboard clipboard manager are deleted after one hour.

If you want a copied text to remain in the Gboard clipboard manager forever, you need to pin it manually. To do this, simply press and hold the clip, then select the pin icon. The clip will now be moved to the Pinned section of the clipboard manager.

To get the most out of the Gboard clipboard manager, you want to make sure that the feature is always enabled and active. If you launch the clipboard manager and it says “ The Gboard clipboard is disabled ”, simply activate it using the switch.

If the clipboard manager is disabled, Gboard will not save the copied texts. And then there would be no way to get them back. If you can’t find or use the clipboard manager feature on your phone’s Gboard, make sure the app is up to date. You can visit the Google PlayStore on your device to update it or use the link below for quick access.

Update Gboard on PlayStore

If Gboard (or its clipboard manager) still isn’t working the way it should, you should check out some troubleshooting options in this article to fix it.

2. Use of dedicated clipboard applications

Another effective way to check and recover the clipboard content on your Android device is to use third-party clipboard apps. Some of these applications even offer advanced and faster copy and paste functionality than Gboad. If you are a serial texter or often have to copy and paste a lot of content to your smartphone, some of these clipboard apps would be even more interesting.

Some clipboard applications can filter and organize the contents of your clipboard into categories (URLs, addresses, etc.); encode the contents of the clipboard into QR codes; share clips with friends; translate clips into multiple languages ​​and other advanced features that keyboards do not offer. There are many clipboard apps on Google Play Store. Browse their features to see which one offers the features you need. For security and privacy reasons, however, be sure to browse the required permissions for the clipboard application you choose to install.

Clipboard security tips

• Copy sensitive information such as passwords, credit card details, PIN codes, etc. to the clipboard of your phone is not advised, mainly when using third-party clipboard applications.
• If you have sensitive data stored or pinned to your phone’s clipboard, be sure to detach or delete it.
• Download and use only trusted third-party clipboard applications. Review the clipboard applications that you intend to use / install.

To go back in time

Currently, these are the most effective methods that offer Android users the luxury of recovering any content copied from their phone’s clipboard. The Google Keyboard Clipboard Manager (Gboard) is basic but does the job. It is also safer and more reliable – in terms of security. If you need something more advanced and exciting, you can experiment with third-party clipboard applications.