Is ShareX a Clipboard Manager? When to Choose ShareX

No, ShareX isn't a clipboard manager. It's a free, open-source screenshot and screen-recording tool that can copy what it captures to the clipboard, but it doesn't keep a history of everything you copy. Choose ShareX first when your daily work is capturing, annotating, recording or uploading screenshots. If you also want to get back earlier copies, run a clipboard manager (or Win+V) alongside it.

What ShareX does

ShareX is a Windows-only capture tool, licensed under GPL-3.0 and available as an installer, a portable build, from the Microsoft Store and on Steam. Its official feature list covers:

• Capture: full screen, active window, active monitor, region, last region, custom region, scrolling capture and auto capture.
• Recording: screen recording and GIF recording, plus tools to trim and convert video and GIFs.
• After-capture tasks: open the image editor, add effects, copy the image or its file path to the clipboard, save, print, pin the image to the screen, run OCR, scan QR codes or upload.
• Uploads: many destinations, including custom uploaders and guides for Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage and Cloudflare R2.
• Tools: colour picker, ruler, image editor, combiner and splitter, hash checker, a clipboard viewer and more.

It does not keep a searchable list of the text, links and images you copy from other apps.

ShareX or Snipping Tool?

Windows 11's Snipping Tool now covers more than it used to. Microsoft's documentation says it can capture screenshots (Win+Shift+S), record a video of a screen region (Win+Shift+R), and recognise text with Text actions, with OCR done on your device.

Choose ShareX when you need GIFs, scrolling captures, automated after-capture steps, or uploads that put a link on your clipboard. For a single long web page, a browser's full-page capture may be enough; see scrolling screenshots on Windows 11. If you take a few screenshots a day and annotate them lightly, Snipping Tool is enough. Print Screen vs Win+Shift+S vs Snipping Tool compares the built-in options.

On OCR, ShareX's documentation says it uses the OCR engine built into Windows and works locally, so the languages it can read are the OCR languages installed in Windows. That means it isn't more accurate or multilingual than Windows itself. How to copy text out of an image on Windows covers the other ways to do this.

When ShareX is the right first tool

• You take many screenshots a day for bug reports, documentation or support replies.
• You need short GIFs or screen recordings, not just stills.
• You share screenshots as links and want the upload-and-copy-URL step automated.
• You want each capture saved to a folder and copied to the clipboard in one keystroke.

Before turning on uploads, check where the destination stores files and who can open the links. For confidential screens, keep uploads off and save locally.

When ShareX is the wrong tool

• You want to get back something you copied an hour ago. That's clipboard history. Use Win+V, Ditto, CopyQ or another manager.
• You type the same text over and over. That's a text expander's job; see text expander vs clipboard manager.
• You rarely capture your screen. The built-in tools are lighter and need no setup.

Pairing ShareX with clipboard history

ShareX and a clipboard manager don't compete. ShareX puts images and links on the clipboard, and a single clipboard manager records them. That gives you your last several screenshots to paste, not just the latest one.

1. In ShareX's after-capture tasks, keep the steps that copy the image to the clipboard and save it to a file.
2. Run one clipboard history: Win+V, Ditto, CopyQ or Edge Drop. Don't run two at once; running two clipboard tools at once explains why.
3. Capture as usual, then open your clipboard history to paste an earlier screenshot.

Win+V can't hold an item larger than 4 MB, which can rule out big full-screen captures; why your huge screenshot never appears in Win+V explains it. If you mostly move screenshots into chat, documents or design apps, Edge Drop keeps captured images as PNGs on a screen-edge shelf and lets you drag them into any app that accepts dropped files. How to keep the last ten screenshots handy compares the options.

FAQ

Does ShareX have clipboard history?

No. ShareX can copy captures, file paths and upload links to the clipboard, but it doesn't keep a history of what you copy from other apps.

Is ShareX free?

Yes. ShareX is free and open source under GPL-3.0.

Does ShareX OCR send my screenshot online?

No. ShareX's OCR uses the Windows OCR engine on your PC. Text only leaves your PC if you then choose an online search or translation service.

Can I use ShareX and Snipping Tool together?

Yes, as long as their keyboard shortcuts don't clash. Give ShareX's region capture a shortcut Windows isn't already using.

Related reading

• ShareX vs Snipping Tool: Which Screenshot Tool to Use?
• Print Screen vs Win+Shift+S vs Snipping Tool (Windows 11)
• How to Keep Your Last Ten Screenshots Handy on Windows
• How to Copy a Screenshot to the Clipboard in Windows 11

Sources

• ShareX — capture methods, recording, after-capture tasks, tools and download options.
• ShareX on GitHub — GPL-3.0 licence and distribution channels.
• ShareX OCR documentation — Windows OCR engine, local processing and language setup.
• Use Snipping Tool to capture screenshots (Microsoft Support) — screen recording, Text actions and shortcuts.
• Using the clipboard (Microsoft Support) — Win+V's 4 MB per-item limit.

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How to Install Guide · First 10 Minutes Guide · Drag & Drop Guide · Edge Drop vs Win+V · Support