QuickTips on Productivity Tools

Clip Utilities Make It Fast and Easy to do Multiple Copy-and-Pastes

Have you ever lost an important phone number, address, or piece of data because you copied it and then forgot to paste it before copying something else? Do you find yourself filling out the same Web forms over and over again, copying and pasting the same few data fields? Then you need a utility that can store multiple copied items.

 

If you use Copy, Cut, or Paste commands in Windows, you're using the Windows Clipboard. It's a handy utility, but it has a few shortcomings. It only stores one item at a time, so each new copy replaces the last. It forgets things you copied in between sessions -- shutting off your computer effectively wipes your Clipboard clean. And you can't easily preview data in the Clipboard; you have to do a Paste to see what's on there.

 

Fortunately, a number of free and paid clip utilities can store and edit the text, images, or URLS you frequently copy and paste. Think of them as your usual clipboard on steroids. They keep a record of the last several items you’ve copied so that you can just paste them at the click of a button. Take a look at one of Download.com’s most popular clip utilities, 

the M8 Free Multi Clipboard.

This utility gives you a preview of the clip you’re about to paste. Just click where you want it to go, and voila. It works for up to 25 clips of graphics, text, URLs, you name it. And it lets you paste JPEGs straight into an Outlook email instead of forcing you to attach them.

Paid utilities offer even more functionality. Rose City Software’s Clip Cache Pro allows you to edit and format clips on the fly. For example, it can strip the indentations out of forwarded emails to render them readable again.

The big benefit of these utilities is that, instead of spending your life hitting Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V, and instead of hunting for that one URL you copied down a few hours ago, you’ll have all those snippets at your fingertips. Go to Download.com for more free utilities and check out Lifehacker.com for personal productivity tips.