Guide
Learn how to get the most out of CopyHotKey
Quick Start
- 1. Download and install CopyHotKey
- 2. Look for the CopyHotKey icon in your system tray (near the clock)
- 3. Copy something to your clipboard - it's automatically saved!
- 4. Press Ctrl+Alt+V to view your history
Core Concepts
Clipboard History
Every time you copy something, CopyHotKey saves it to your history. By default, the last 100 items are kept. You can adjust this in settings.
Multi-Format Support
CopyHotKey captures multiple clipboard formats simultaneously:
- Text: Plain text content
- HTML: Rich formatted text from web browsers
- RTF: Rich text from Word and other editors
- Images: Screenshots and copied images (PNG format)
- Files: File paths when you copy files in Explorer
Smart Deduplication
CopyHotKey automatically removes adjacent duplicates. If you copy the same thing twice in a row, it only keeps one copy in history.
Privacy & Security
Your clipboard data stays on your machine. CopyHotKey offers several privacy features:
- Optional Encryption: Use Windows DPAPI to encrypt history at rest
- Session-Only Mode: History is cleared when you exit the app
- Local Storage: No cloud, no telemetry, no network access
Common Workflows
📝 Writing & Editing
Copy multiple snippets from research, then quickly paste them without switching windows:
- Copy all the snippets you need
- Switch to your document
- Use Ctrl+1, Ctrl+2, etc. to paste them in order
💻 Programming
Keep code snippets accessible while switching between files:
- Copy function signatures, imports, or code blocks
- Press Ctrl+Alt+V to search your recent copies
- Filter by typing part of the code
🖼️ Design & Screenshots
Manage multiple screenshots and images:
- Take several screenshots (they're all saved)
- Open history to preview and select the one you need
- Enable OCR to extract text from screenshots
📊 Data Entry
Quickly paste repeated information:
- Copy frequently-used values (email, address, etc.)
- Use quick paste hotkeys to insert them instantly
- No need to re-copy the same data multiple times
Advanced Features
Custom Hotkeys
All hotkeys are customizable. Right-click the tray icon → Settings → Hotkeys to configure:
- History window hotkey (default: Ctrl+Alt+V)
- Quick paste hotkeys (default: Ctrl+1-9)
- Previous paste hotkey (default: Ctrl+Shift+V)
OCR (Text from Images)
Enable OCR in settings to automatically extract text from copied images. Uses Windows built-in OCR engine. Useful for screenshots with text, scanned documents, or images with captions.
Logging & Debugging
Enable logging in settings if you encounter issues. Logs are saved to %LocalAppData%\CopyHotKey\logs and can help diagnose problems.
Performance Tips
- 💡 Reduce history size if you notice high memory usage. Settings → History Size
- 💡 Disable OCR if you don't need text extraction from images (saves CPU)
- 💡 Clear old history periodically to keep the app responsive
- 💡 Use session-only mode for temporary work to avoid history buildup
Ready to get started?