Edge Drop vs CopyQ: Drag Shelf or Scriptable Clipboard?

Pick CopyQ if you want to program your clipboard: tabs, notes and tags, custom commands that run on a shortcut, rules to ignore certain windows, and a command-line interface, on Windows, Linux and macOS. Pick Edge Drop if you want recent images and files on a screen-edge shelf that you drag into other apps, with very little to configure. CopyQ is a scriptable clipboard manager; Edge Drop is a visual staging shelf for Windows.

Edge Drop vs CopyQ at a glance

What CopyQ can do that Edge Drop can't

CopyQ describes itself as an advanced clipboard manager with editing and scripting features. It monitors the clipboard and saves copies into tabs you can customise. Its documented features include:

• Storing text, HTML, images and any other custom format.
• Sorting, creating, editing, removing and dragging items in tabs, plus notes and tags on items.
• System-wide shortcuts with customisable commands.
• Ignoring copies from specified windows, or copies containing specified text.
• A Vim-like editor and a fully customisable appearance.
• An advanced command-line interface and a scripting API.

The command line talks to the running CopyQ app. From a terminal, with CopyQ running and its folder on your PATH, commands like these work:

copyq add -- "first item" "second item"
copyq read 0 1 2
copyq clipboard
copyq copy "Some Text"

That's the gap. Edge Drop has no CLI, no commands, no scripting and no per-window rules. If you can write down an action you want to happen on every copy, such as cleaning a path or filing copies from one app into their own tab, CopyQ is the tool. When CopyQ commands beat any shelf has worked examples.

CopyQ is also the only one of the two that runs on Linux and macOS, which matters if you work across operating systems.

What Edge Drop does that CopyQ isn't built for

Edge Drop is designed around one motion: see the item, then drag it or click it.

• Images and files as cards. Screenshots show as thumbnails, and files copied in Explorer appear as file cards you can use long after the clipboard has moved on.
• Drag into other apps. Drag an image or file out of Edge Drop into Explorer, Slack, Word, Photoshop or a browser upload box. Files are dragged as the original files.
• Stacks. Drop one image or file card onto another to group up to 10 items, then drag the group as one.
• Click to paste. Clicking a card pastes it into the app you were working in, without moving focus to the shelf.
• Nothing to set up. It opens at the screen edge from the first launch. The settings fit on three tabs.

CopyQ documents drag and drop for arranging items within its tabs; its listed ways of getting an item back are pasting from a shortcut, the tray or the main window. Text and link cards in Edge Drop are also click-to-paste only; only images and files drag out.

Setup effort

CopyQ rewards time spent configuring it. Out of the box it's a capable history; the power comes from tabs, commands and scripts you build. If you don't want to build anything, much of what makes CopyQ special goes unused.

Edge Drop has a short list of settings: which edge and monitor, hover behaviour, the shortcut, history size and auto-delete. The Edge Drop settings reference lists them all. The trade-off is that you can't extend it.

Privacy controls

CopyQ's ignore rules are the more precise control. You can tell it never to save copies from your password manager's window or anything matching a pattern.

Edge Drop has no per-app rules. It skips copies that apps mark as excluded from clipboard history (many password managers do this), skips known password-manager formats, and offers Incognito mode to pause capture and an Auto-delete timer for unpinned items. Its history index is encrypted with Windows DPAPI; images and long text are stored as ordinary files under %APPDATA%\Edge-Drop.

Whichever you choose, check what your manager does with passwords before you rely on it.

Using both

Both apps watch the clipboard, so running both gives you two histories of every copy. If you want CopyQ's commands and a visual shelf, decide which one records history and expect duplicates if both do. Running two clipboard tools at once covers the conflicts.

Which should you pick?

• You want copies to trigger actions, need ignore rules, or use Linux or macOS too: CopyQ.
• You move screenshots, images and files between apps and prefer the mouse: Edge Drop.
• You want to save and name clips so you can find them by name later: Pasteboard's named clips fit that habit.
• You want a simpler keyboard-first history without scripting: Ditto sits between the two.
• You only reuse a few bits of text a day: Windows' built-in Win+V history may be enough.

FAQ

Does Edge Drop have a command line like CopyQ?

No. Edge Drop has no CLI, scripting or plugin system.

Is CopyQ free?

Yes. CopyQ is free and open source under GPL-3.0. Edge Drop is free and open source under Apache 2.0.

How do I install CopyQ on Windows?

The project offers an installer and a portable zip on its GitHub releases page, plus Scoop (extras bucket) and Chocolatey packages.

Related reading

• CopyQ Review: When to Choose This Scriptable Clipboard Manager
• Ditto vs CopyQ (2026): Which Clipboard Manager to Use
• CopyQ vs ClipboardFusion: Which Automates Copying Better?
• Best Clipboard Manager for Developers in 2026

Sources

• CopyQ — description, feature list, platforms and Windows install options.
• CopyQ on GitHub — GPL-3.0 licence and command-line examples.
• CopyQ documentation — command-line and scripting reference.
• Edge Drop (GitHub) — source code and licence.

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