How to Access the Clipboard on Android Devices

Your Android device stores recently copied items in the clipboard. This allows you to easily copy and paste text, photos, files and more. But the clipboard hasn’t always been easily accessible on Android phones – so where’s the clipboard on Android?

In this article, we share with you how to access clipboard on Android phone and which third-party apps will help you manage your clipboard in the best way.

How to access clipboard history on Android

The clipboard is a feature of many operating systems, including Android, Windows, and Mac, but while the latter systems grant you greater control over the clipboard, this hasn’t always been the case with Android.

On most Android devices, you can only see and paste the last item copied to your clipboard. On some newer models, however, you can now access the entire history of the clipboard – an incredibly useful feature if you frequently copy and paste things (like memes) to your friends.

Unfortunately, it’s not clear which devices or Android versions have this built-in clipboard and which don’t, so you’ll just have to try it on your device to find out. Certain Samsung phones, including the Samsung Galaxy S20, have the ability to view Android clipboard history natively.

To access clipboard history:

1. Go to an app with a text function, e.g Messages, E-mailor Remarks.
2. Long press your finger on the text field that says “Type a message”.
3. Beat clipboard.

4. Scroll down to find the copied text you want to paste.

Use third-party apps to access clipboard history

Third-party keyboard and clipboard manager apps offer additional features over the built-in Android keyboards, including the ability to view and edit the clipboard. Here are the top clipboard options available:

Gboard

Gboard is Google’s official keyboard. This is one of the most popular third party keyboard apps and it is very easy to use. In fact, many recent Android models come with the Gboard keyboard pre-installed.

To set up and use the Gboard Android app:

1. First you need to make sure that Gboard is installed and set as the default keyboard. If this is your first time using Gboard, you need to download and install Gboard from the Google Play Store.
2. Next open settings > General Administration.

3. Beat Keyboard List and Default.

4. Switch Gboard then tap standard keyboard.

5. Choose Gboard.

6. Open an app that uses the keyboard, then tap clipboard icon about the letters.

7. Beat Turn on the clipboard.

8. Now every time you copy an item to the clipboard, it will show up here below youngest.

Note: You can save clipboard items to your Gboard clipboard forever by pinning them. To pin an item, tap and hold and press Pen.

Gboard is available for iOS through Apple’s App Store, so iPhone users can also access their clipboard history.

SwiftKey

SwiftKey is a keyboard app developed by Microsoft. It also allows users to have better control over their clipboard, allowing them to easily view their clipboard history.

How to use SwiftKey:

1. Download and install SwiftKey from the Google Play Store.
2. Set SwiftKey as your default keyboard by going to settings > General Administration > Keyboard List and Default.

3. Switch SwiftKey then tap standard keyboard.

4. Choose SwiftKey.

5. SwiftKey should now be activated, so open an app that uses text.
6. Copy the items you want to your clipboard, then press the clipboard icon. Your copied items will appear in a list.

Note: Like Gboard, you can pin items by pressing pin icon next to the entry. This additional clipboard feature ensures that your recent items stay on your clipboard forever.

clipboard manager

Standalone clipboard managers like Clipper provided additional clipboard functionality that made it easier to use. However, starting with Android 10, Google has denied these third-party apps access to clipboard data for security reasons.

Use clipboard manager to save snippets, text and images easily

A clipboard manager gives you the ability to save things that you send to people frequently. This is surprisingly useful for those who work from their Android smartphones and type in the same information or greetings multiple times a day.

Luckily, when it comes to keyboard apps, there are multiple choices—and Gboard and SwiftKey are two of the best!