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How to reset and clear clipboard data in Windows without using third party tools

If you are using a public PC or sharing your Windows user account with some friend or family member, you might be interested in making sure that your clipboard (data which you have cut or copied) is empty after you leave your PC. This will ensure that you do not leave any private information in the clipboard. It is very easy to perform this operation without using any third party tool, as Windows includes all the necessary tools out of the box.

Here you go:

  1. Press Win + R shortcut keys together on your keyboard to open the Run dialog. Tip: See the ultimate list of all Windows keyboard shortcuts with Win keys if you are interested).
  2. Type the following in the Run box:
    cmd /c echo.|clip

    Copy this line or type it carefully.
    clear clip

  3. Press Enter on the keyboard to execute the command. Your clipboard data will be emptied.

You can create a shortcut to run this command faster and place it on the Desktop. This will save your time.
clear clipboard shortcut
Alternatively, you can assign a global hotkey to the shortcut you create to access it directly from any app as described in this article: Add global hotkeys to launch your favorite applications in Windows 8.1.
See also How to copy the command prompt output directly to the Windows clipboard for more details.
This trick works in Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8.

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Author: Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube.

5 thoughts on “How to reset and clear clipboard data in Windows without using third party tools”

  1. This is no longer necessary for Windows 10 as they already have builtin function to access the clipboard. You can just used Windows Key + V.

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