Can't use text from the clipboard history

Question

Problem: Images will go into the clipboard history, but text fields display blank and paste nothing. This problem has existed for several months.

Error message: None

System info:

Edition Windows 10 Enterprise

Version 21H2

Installed on ‎6/‎7/‎2022

OS build 19044.4046

Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.19053.1000.0

Tried:

1. Turned off Clipboard History
2. Turned Clipboard History back on making sure the history was clear.

Other note: When I first turned Clipboard History on, it worked normally. I do not know what made it stop working. I believe there were updates pushed to our computers, but I'm not sure that was responsible for the change.

Screen shot: In this image you can see several images in the history, but the two blank in the middle were text and now appear blank.

***moved from Windows / Windows 10 / Performance and system failures***

Answer 1

Hi Jeanne Goodman,

According to your description, the Clipboard History feature in Windows 10 sometimes fails to display or paste text content correctly, despite images being stored properly in the history.

This issue might be caused by software updates, system configuration changes, or a malfunction in the Clipboard service.

Here is a series of troubleshooting steps you can try:

1. Reset Clipboard Settings:

   • Turn off the Clipboard History feature.

   • Restart your computer.

   • Turn on the Clipboard History feature again and ensure all related settings (such as cross-device syncing for copy operations) are enabled correctly.

2. Check for System Updates:

   • Verify if any recent Windows updates may have affected the Clipboard functionality.

   • Check for and install the latest Windows updates, which may include potential fixes.

3. Disable/Enable Clipboard User Service:

   Locate "Clipboard User Service" within the Services management tool, ensuring its status is set to "Automatic" and that it's currently running.

4. Registry Editor Inspection:

Please note that improper editing of the registry may lead to system instability or failure to start up. Before making any modifications, please back up the registry or create a system restore point to prevent potential issues.

The steps for checking the registry related to clipboard history are as follows:

1). Opening the Registry Editor:

2). Navigating to Clipboard-related Key Values:

   Browse to the following path (if there are key values related to clipboard history):

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Clipboard

3). Checking Clipboard Settings:

    Look for key values under this key that might affect clipboard history functionality:

    Search for a DWORD value named *EnableClipboardHistory*, ensure its value is set to 1 to enable clipboard history.

    If you do not find this specific key value, you can also try creating a new DWORD (32-bit) Value, name it *EnableClipboardHistory*, and set its numerical data to 1.

References: Get help with clipboard - Microsoft Support

Best Regards,

Xin Wang