AI Clipboard Managers: Which Keep Your Data Local?

An AI clipboard manager is only as private as the model it uses. If the model runs on your PC (through Ollama, Foundry Local or a Copilot+ PC's built-in model), your copied text never leaves the machine. If it runs in the cloud (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Mistral and others), whatever you send is processed on that provider's servers under its data policy. Most tools, including PowerToys Advanced Paste and Raycast, send something only when you ask for an AI action, and some let you pick a local model instead.

What "AI" means in a clipboard tool

AI features in clipboard tools fall into a few groups:

• Transforming a copy: summarise, translate, fix grammar, or turn notes into a table, usually when you paste.
• Asking about a copy: send the clipboard to a chat with a question.
• Searching history by meaning: find "that error message from yesterday" without the exact words, using embeddings (more on this below).
• Letting an AI assistant read your history: connecting the clipboard manager to a chat app or coding assistant.

Plain format conversions (to plain text, Markdown or JSON) aren't AI and normally run entirely on your PC.

Which tools use AI, and where it runs

PowerToys Advanced Paste

Advanced Paste's non-AI actions (paste as plain text, Markdown or JSON, paste as a file, image to text, and audio or video transcoding) run locally. Paste with AI is off until you turn it on and add a model provider. Microsoft's documentation says Advanced Paste "sends your clipboard text and prompt to the provider that you selected", so a cloud provider sees what you paste through it, and a local provider (Foundry Local, Ollama, or Phi Silica on Copilot+ PCs) keeps it on your PC. PowerToys Advanced Paste with Ollama or OpenAI has the setup steps.

Raycast

Raycast's AI is part of its paid Pro plan. Its manual lists bring-your-own-key options for Anthropic, Google, OpenAI and OpenRouter, custom OpenAI-compatible providers, connecting an existing Claude or ChatGPT subscription, and local models that run on your machine (check whether the Windows version supports local models before relying on them). Check which model a command uses before sending it anything sensitive.

Paste and AI assistants

Paste's MCP server runs locally on your Mac and lets you choose which AI tools can connect. Remember the second step: once an assistant such as Claude reads a clipboard item, that text goes to wherever the assistant's model runs, which for most chat apps is the cloud. How AI coding assistants use your clipboard covers the same question for code editors.

What happens to text sent to a cloud model

If you use a cloud provider with your own API key, the provider's API terms apply, not its consumer chat app's terms:

Not being used for training is not the same as not being sent. The text still leaves your PC, is processed on the provider's servers and may be logged for a period. For passwords, API keys and client data, the only safe option is not to send them at all.

The secrets problem

Clipboards carry secrets all the time: passwords from a password manager, API keys, connection strings, one-time codes. An AI action applied to the wrong clip sends that secret to a provider.

To reduce the risk:

1. Use a local model for AI actions on a work PC, or keep AI features off.
2. Don't build custom AI actions that run automatically on every paste.
3. Use a clipboard manager that skips copies marked as sensitive, and clear history after handling credentials. How to stop clipboard managers from saving secrets covers the settings.
4. Treat a key that reached a cloud model as exposed and rotate it. Is an API key on the clipboard a security incident? explains why.

Searching history by meaning: embeddings

"Semantic" search and automatic grouping work by turning each clip into an embedding: a list of numbers that represents its meaning, so similar clips end up close together. The privacy question is the same as for chat features: where is the embedding model?

A clipboard tool that embeds every copy through a cloud API sends your whole history to that provider, one item at a time. Small local models such as all-MiniLM-L6-v2 are enough to group links, code and error messages, so there's little reason to send clipboard history to a cloud service for this.

How to check what an AI clipboard tool sends

1. Read the settings. Look for a provider or model picker. If you can't see which provider is used, assume it's the vendor's cloud.
2. Disconnect from the internet and try the AI feature. If it still works, the model is local.
3. Watch its connections while you use AI features. How to check if a Windows app has telemetry shows how.
4. Read the data policy of both the app and the model provider.

Where Edge Drop fits

Edge Drop, the clipboard shelf made by the team behind this site, has no AI features: no cloud model, no local model and no semantic search. Nothing you copy is sent anywhere for processing. If you want AI actions on Windows alongside it, PowerToys Advanced Paste with a local model is the most private option.

FAQ

Is PowerToys Advanced Paste safe to use?

Its non-AI actions run on your PC. Paste with AI is off by default; when you turn it on, your clipboard text and prompt go to the provider you choose. Pick Foundry Local or Ollama if you want nothing to leave your PC.

Does Windows clipboard history use AI?

No. Win+V stores and pastes items without AI processing. Separate Windows features such as Click to Do on Copilot+ PCs can act on what's on your screen. Windows Recall vs clipboard: what stores what explains the difference, and the Windows clipboard in 2026 sums up what each Microsoft feature does and doesn't cover.

Can I use Copilot with my clipboard?

Yes, by pasting into the Copilot app. That sends the text to Microsoft's cloud service. How to use Copilot with your clipboard covers the options.

Related reading

• PowerToys Advanced Paste AI: Set Up Ollama or OpenAI
• How to Stop Clipboard Managers From Saving Secrets
• How to Use Copilot With Your Clipboard on Windows 11
• Pasting Code Into AI Assistants: Clipboard Safety Tips
• What Does Local-First Mean for a Clipboard Manager?

Sources

• Advanced Paste (Microsoft Learn) — local actions, Paste with AI, model providers and what is sent.
• Raycast AI (Raycast Manual) — Pro feature, provider and local model options.
• Raycast for Windows (Raycast) — Quick AI and AI Chat on Windows need an internet connection.
• Paste MCP (Paste) — local MCP server on Mac and supported AI tools.
• Your data (OpenAI API docs) — API data not used for training unless you opt in; abuse-monitoring retention.
• Commercial Terms of Service (Anthropic) — no training on customer content.
• Gemini API Additional Terms (Google) — unpaid vs paid tier data use.
• all-MiniLM-L6-v2 (Hugging Face) — 384-dimension local embedding model.
• nomic-embed-text-v1.5 (Hugging Face) — 768-dimension embedding model.
• Embeddings (OpenAI API docs) — text-embedding-3 dimensions.
• LLM02:2025 Sensitive Information Disclosure (OWASP) — risk of sending sensitive data to language models.

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