How to copy multiple items to the clipboard on Windows 10
Windows 10 and Windows 11 both have a built-in clipboard history feature that works locally on your device and does not require a Microsoft account. The part that connects to your Microsoft account is the optional Sync across devices feature — and you can leave it off entirely if you prefer. If you do want cross-device syncing, Windows lets you choose between automatic and manual sync of copied text, but that is a separate decision from simply turning on clipboard history. For users who want even more control — a higher item limit, image support, or a fully standalone tool with no Microsoft account involved — Multiclip is worth a look. It’s a free, open-source app that lets you copy multiple items to the clipboard without any cloud syncing. Like the Windows built-in feature, it can copy both text and images, and you can recall a complete list of everything you’ve copied.
Use Windows Clipboard History without cloud sync
Before installing a third-party app, it’s worth trying the clipboard history built into Windows 10 and Windows 11. It works locally by default — no Microsoft account required — and takes less than a minute to set up.
- Open Settings and go to System > Clipboard.
- Toggle Clipboard history on.
- Leave Sync across devices off if you want local-only use. If you do want to sync later, you can return here and choose automatic or manual sync of copied text — it is entirely optional.
- Copy or cut items as usual with Ctrl+C or Ctrl+X.
- Press Win+V to open your clipboard history. A small panel appears showing everything you have recently copied. Click any item to paste it at your cursor.
- Inside the Win+V panel you can also manage your history: hover over an item and click the three-dot menu to delete a single entry, or click Clear all to wipe the full list. You can also pin frequently used items so they survive a restart and remain at the top of the list.
This built-in approach covers most everyday needs for copying and pasting multiple items without any extra software.
If you need to paste all copied items in Word, Excel, or Outlook
If you work primarily in Microsoft Office applications, the Office Clipboard is a separate built-in option worth knowing about. It can store up to 24 copied items and is available inside Word, Excel, and Outlook without installing anything extra.
To open it, go to the Home tab and click the small dialog launcher arrow in the bottom-right corner of the Clipboard group. A panel opens on the left side of your document showing everything you have copied during your current Office session.
From there you can:
- Click any individual item in the panel to paste it at your cursor.
- Click Paste All to insert every stored item in one go.
- Hover over an item and click the dropdown arrow to delete that single entry.
- Click Clear All to empty the full list.
Keep in mind that the Office Clipboard is limited to Office applications. It does not work system-wide the way Windows clipboard history does, so if you need to copy multiple items across different programs — a browser, a text editor, a file manager — the Windows built-in option or a tool like Multiclip will serve you better.
Copy multiple items to the clipboard with Multiclip
Download Multiclip from Github. It’s a portable app that does not need to be installed. You should visit the app’s settings first where you can select a theme for the app and more importantly, you can familiarize yourself with the keyboard shortcuts for the app. Taking a few minutes to explore the settings panel will help you get the most out of Multiclip before you start using it in your daily workflow.
The keyboard shortcuts can be edited. Click the Edit button at the top right of the Hot keys section and record the shortcuts you want to use. The default shortcuts aren’t the greatest and since you won’t be using the stock clipboard history, you can use Windows shortcuts for this app. Customizing these shortcuts early on makes the whole experience much smoother.
How to copy multiple items using keyboard shortcuts
As for using Multiclip, you copy items with the same keyboard shortcut you’ve always used; Ctrl+C. The app runs silently in the background and intercepts each copy action, adding it to a running log. This means you don’t need to change any of your existing habits — just copy as you normally would and Multiclip handles the rest. When you need to copy multiple items from different sources, simply copy each one in sequence and Multiclip will capture all of them automatically.
Whenever you need to recall your clipboard history, use the app’s keyboard shortcut to open the log. You can scroll through the items and select the item you want to use. This makes it easy to paste any previously copied content without having to go back and copy it again.
Multiclipboard will store forty items in its history by default but you can increase that number from the app’s settings. You can also purge your entire history, or just clear what’s currently on it. The buttons are there in the app’s settings. If you frequently copy multiple items throughout the day, increasing the history limit ensures you never lose access to something you copied earlier.
Your clipboard history will persist past a system reboot, but the app has to be set to run at startup. It stores everything locally so your data isn’t going everywhere. That said, and this goes for every clipboard manager in the world, you should never store sensitive information to the clipboard.
If you have copied sensitive information to the clipboard and Multiclip has saved it, you can delete it by opening the history. Right-click the item that you want to remove and select the remove option from the context menu. You can select and delete multiple items at once, which is handy for quickly cleaning up your history after a sensitive session.
Multiclip can copy text and images, but it can also copy and store any and all other types of files. This makes it a versatile tool for power users who regularly work with a wide variety of content types. Whether you’re a developer copying code snippets, a writer pulling quotes from multiple sources, or a designer moving file paths around, Multiclip adapts to your workflow. Its lightweight, portable nature means you can even carry it on a USB drive and use it on any Windows machine without installation.
