How to Pin Items in Windows Clipboard History
By Khushi Yadav
To pin an item in Windows clipboard history, press Windows logo key + V and select the pin icon on the item. On some builds the pin is inside the item's See more (...) menu instead. Pinned items stay in the list after you restart the PC and after Clear all, until you unpin or delete them.
Clipboard history has to be on first. If Win+V shows a Turn on button, select it, or see how to enable clipboard history in Windows 11.
How to pin an item
- Copy the text or image you want to keep.
- Press Windows logo key + V. Your newest copies are at the top.
- Select the pin icon on the item. If you don't see one, select See more (...) next to the item, then Pin.
The item stays in its place in the list, now marked as pinned. Nothing else changes: you still open Win+V and click it to paste, and Ctrl+V still pastes only your latest copy.
How to unpin or delete a pinned item
- Unpin: press Win+V and select the pin icon on the item again. It becomes an ordinary item and will be cleared at the next restart.
- Delete: press Win+V, select See more (...) next to the item, then Delete. It's removed straight away.
Clear all in the Win+V panel and Settings > System > Clipboard > Clear clipboard data both leave pinned items in place. To remove a pin, you have to unpin or delete that item. Clearing clipboard history covers the bulk options.
What pinning keeps, and what it doesn't
Microsoft documents that clipboard history is cleared each time the PC restarts, except for pinned items, and that older unpinned items are removed as new ones arrive. A pin protects an item from both. It doesn't change the other rules:
| Rule | Still applies to pins? |
|---|---|
| Formats are text, HTML and bitmap images only | Yes. Files copied in File Explorer can't be pinned. |
| Each item can be up to 4 MB | Yes. An item too large for history never appears, so it can't be pinned. |
| Pins stay until you remove them | Yes. Microsoft doesn't describe any expiry. |
| Pins are backed up or can be exported | No. Windows has no backup or export for pins. |
Microsoft documents the restart rule only. If you need an item tomorrow, pin it whether you shut down, restart or let the PC sleep. If pins vanish after a Windows update or profile change, pinned clipboard items disappeared goes through the causes.
What's worth pinning
Pins work best for a handful of short, stable, non-secret items you paste often:
- your postal or office address
- an email sign-off or standard reply
- a meeting link that doesn't change
- a symbol or phrase that's awkward to type
Don't pin:
- passwords, recovery codes or API keys
- one-time passcodes (they expire, the pin doesn't)
- client or patient data on a shared PC
- long documents that are hard to read in the panel
Anyone who can sign in to your Windows account can press Win+V and see your pins. Password managers can also mark copied passwords so they never enter history at all; how passwords end up in clipboard history explains when that does and doesn't happen.
Back up your pins to a file
Pins are a convenience, not a library. They have no names, folders or search, and Windows can't export them. If losing your pins would hurt, keep a copy:
- Open Notepad and create a file such as
clipboard-pins.txtin Documents or OneDrive. - Press Win+V, click a pinned item to paste it into the file, and add a short label above it.
- Repeat for each pin, then save the file.
- Delete pins you rarely use. Keep the file as the master copy and re-pin from it when needed.
For long reusable replies, a text expander or Word's Quick Parts is a better home than pins. Building a library of reusable replies compares the options.
If you need more than a few pins
Some clipboard managers keep pins in a separate section with more room. In Edge Drop, for example, pinned items sit in their own PINNED section, don't count toward the history capacity, and survive Clear all history and the Clear unpinned on restart option. Pinning in Edge Drop shows how. Moving existing Win+V pins into another tool is covered in how to leave Win+V without losing your pins.
FAQ
Do pinned items sync to my other PCs?
Microsoft documents syncing of copied text when Clipboard history across your devices is on. It doesn't describe pins as syncing separately. Keep the setting off if you don't want copied text sent to other devices.
Is there a limit on how many items I can pin?
Microsoft doesn't publish a separate pin limit. The panel isn't built for browsing many items, so a short list of pins is easier to use.
Why is there no pin icon?
Check that you're on the clipboard tab of the Win+V panel, not the emoji or GIF tab. On some builds the pin is only in the See more (...) menu.
Related reading
- How to Use Clipboard History in Windows 11 (Win+V Tips)
- Clipboard History Gone After Restart? Why and How to Keep It
- Pinned Clipboard Items Gone in Windows 11? Causes and Fixes
- How to Clean Up Pinned Clipboard Items on Windows
Sources
- Using the clipboard (Microsoft Support) — pinned items survive restarts and clearing, delete steps, 25 entries, 4 MB, formats, sync.
- How to use clipboard history in Windows 11 (Microsoft) — pin frequently used items; pins stay until you remove them.
Khushi Yadav writes Edge Drop's workflow and design guides and is a B.Tech Computer Science Engineering student. Khushi's posts are checked against Microsoft's documentation and the Edge Drop fact sheet.
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