A clipboard ought to remember more than one thing

The clipboard that comes with the system is forgetful by design: copy something new and the previous thing is gone. Move a dozen passages of text from one document to another and the only method left is to jump back and forth between the source and the target, which is slow and, after the fifth trip, easy to get wrong. ArsClip is an old free tool that widens the clipboard. It sits in the background and quietly notes down everything that gets copied, and when a paste is wanted a shortcut opens a list from which any earlier item can be taken directly, so a dozen small moves become one.

A history that holds more than plain text

What it keeps is not only text. Pictures come through, formatted text comes through, fragments lifted from a browser come through, so does a file copied from a folder, and so do the odd character encodings that are otherwise a nuisance to reproduce. Something copied three days ago can still be found. The list in the pop up can be searched and items can be pinned, so the phrases used every day stay at the top within reach, and an optional strip can be parked at the edge of the screen with the favourites on it, one click away from being pasted. Privacy has a floor under it as well: particular programs can be named as ones whose copies are never recorded, so sensitive material is not quietly filed away, and the history can be cleared by hand or emptied on a schedule.

Permanent entries and macros, so repetition runs itself

The feature that gives the program its character is the idea of a permanent item. Frequently used passages, boilerplate, a signature block are stored as fixed entries, kept in groups, inserted with one press, and they survive a restart. From there the permanent entries can be written out as macros, which simulate key presses and paste several fields in order, and a form mode fills a name, a date and an address into a row of input boxes in a single pass, which is a visible saving for anybody whose work involves entering the same kinds of things again and again. People who want to go further can script the paste action itself, and the official documentation carries plenty of ready examples, so the freedom on offer is considerable.

Light enough to carry, deep enough to get lost in

The whole program needs no installation: unpack it and run it. It occupies a few megabytes, it fits on a small drive that goes in a pocket, its settings are written into its own folder, nothing is left behind in the system, and moving to another computer means carrying the folder across. The pop up can be called by a shortcut or by holding down the right button, among other triggers, and the format can be converted on the way in, dropping formatted text down to plain text before it lands, which removes the layout trouble that comes with anything copied out of a browser. Almost every detail of appearance and behaviour can be adjusted, from where the pop up appears to how the menu looks. One warning is fair: the interface is plain and the options are many, so the first session involves a certain amount of reading. As of September 2026 it is still being updated, with the details and the compatibility polished release after release, and for anyone who lives in the clipboard it is a small tool worth the investment.

Whether it is worth the first hour

The honest answer depends on how much of the day is spent moving text about. For somebody who copies two things a week, the system clipboard is enough and this would be furniture. For somebody who copies two hundred, the arithmetic changes within a day: the source window no longer has to stay open, the target window no longer has to be reached, and a thing copied yesterday is still there tomorrow. That is the whole case, and it is a good one.