Windows clipboard history limit: how many items Win+V keeps (and how to keep more)

Why your items disappear

If something you copied is missing from Win+V, it's almost always one of these:

1. You've copied 25 things since. The list rotates, and the oldest unpinned item drops off.
2. You restarted your PC. Restarting wipes unpinned history.
3. The item was larger than 4 MB. A large, high-resolution screenshot can exceed it. More on this: why screenshots and images don't show up in Win+V.
4. It wasn't text, HTML or a bitmap. Copying a file in File Explorer, for example, doesn't add the file to clipboard history.
5. History was off when you copied it. Clipboard history must be turned on first.
6. You cleared it. "Clear all" or Settings > System > Clipboard > Clear removes everything except pinned items, on your device and in the cloud.

How to turn on clipboard history

Press Windows + V and select Turn on. Or go to Start > Settings > System > Clipboard and switch Clipboard history on. From then on, Win+V shows your recent copies; click one to paste it. For everything else it does (pinning, sync, emoji and GIFs), see our complete guide to Windows 11 clipboard history.

How to keep an item longer: pin it

Pinning is the only built-in way to escape the 25-item limit and the restart wipe:

1. Press Windows + V.
2. Find the item and select the pin icon (or "…" then Pin, depending on your version).

Pinned items stay at the top, survive restarts and aren't erased by Clear all. They're great for a handful of things you reuse: your address, an email signature, a meeting link. Pin too many and the panel becomes hard to scan, since there's no search.

To delete a single item, open Win+V, select "…" next to it, then Delete.

Can you increase the limit to more than 25?

Not with a Windows setting. Microsoft documents the 25-entry limit and offers no option to change it. You'll find registry tweaks online that claim to raise it; Microsoft doesn't document them, so treat them with caution and back up your registry before trying anything.

Can you see clipboard history from before a restart?

No. Unless an item was pinned, Windows doesn't keep it after a restart, and there's no hidden log to recover it. Turning on sync doesn't change that: it shares text between your Windows devices, it isn't an archive you can browse.

Does sync help?

Sync (Settings > System > Clipboard > Clipboard history across your devices) lets you paste text copied on another Windows PC signed in with the same account. You can sync automatically or manually per item. It doesn't raise the 25-item limit, only syncs text, and doesn't reach a Mac or an iPhone. On Android, Microsoft SwiftKey can sync your last copied text with Windows; Microsoft says this isn't available on iOS.

How to keep a longer, searchable history

If you hit the limit often, a clipboard manager keeps far more, saves it across restarts and adds search. Good options, all checked in October 2026:

• Ditto: free and open source, Windows-only. Long history in a database, search, groups. A classic.
• CopyQ: free and open source, on Windows, Mac and Linux, with tabs, tags and scripting.
• ClipClip: free for personal use, up to 1,000 clips, folders, editors and screen capture.
• Raycast for Windows: a launcher whose clipboard history keeps up to 3 months on the free plan.
• Clipster (our app): keeps its history after a restart, with full-text search, Pins, files and images, and, with sync turned on, the same history on your Mac and iPhone, end-to-end encrypted. Honest limit: if you only want a huge history on Windows, Ditto or CopyQ keep more.

Our full comparison: best clipboard managers for Windows, or Clipster vs the Windows clipboard.

If you install one, consider turning Win+V history off so you don't keep two histories. You can turn it back on any time.

Download Clipster: it's lightweight.