Cliplo
How to keep passwords out of your clipboard history on Windows
Is a copied password saved on Windows?
With clipboard history off, Windows holds only your latest copy, and the next copy replaces it. With it on, Windows keeps a list of your last 25 copies until you restart. If you've turned on syncing, text you copy can also go to your other devices, depending on your settings.
How do I remove a password I just copied?
- Press the Windows key and V.
- Select the … next to the item.
- Select Delete.
Then copy something harmless. The list and the current clipboard are two things, and whatever you copied last is still ready to paste until something replaces it.
How do I stop passwords going into the history?
- Let your password manager fill in logins where it can, so nothing is copied at all.
- Turn clipboard history off if you don't use it, in Settings, System, Clipboard.
- Check your sync setting. On Windows 11, syncing by hand means nothing is uploaded unless you choose it.
How can an app keep its copies out of history?
Windows gives apps a way to ask, using special formats placed on the clipboard alongside the data. Microsoft documents three:
| Format | What it does |
|---|---|
ExcludeClipboardContentFromMonitorProcessing | Any data in this format keeps the copy out of the history, and off your other devices. |
CanIncludeInClipboardHistory | A value of zero keeps it out of the history. A value of one asks for it to be included. Sync isn't affected. |
CanUploadToCloudClipboard | A value of zero keeps it off your other devices. A value of one asks for it to sync. The history on this PC isn't affected. |
So whether a password stays out depends on the app that copied it. If you build software that handles secrets, these are the formats to set.
Do third-party clipboard managers respect this?
It's up to each one, because these formats are a request and nothing forces an app to honor it. Before you install any clipboard manager, check what it says about password managers, and where it stores your history.
Here's what Cliplo, the one we make, does:
- It honors
ExcludeClipboardContentFromMonitorProcessingandCanIncludeInClipboardHistory, and skips copies from known password managers such as 1Password, Bitwarden, KeePass and LastPass. - Free drops API keys and tokens it recognizes. Pro keeps them masked, in memory only, for five minutes.
- It encrypts its history on your disk, has no server holding your clips, and lets you name apps to ignore.
No detector catches everything. A password copied from an ordinary document looks like ordinary text, so treat a clipboard manager's protection as a safety net and don't rely on it alone.