How to Replay the Edge-Drop Onboarding Tutorial

A clipboard shelf with a hover trigger, click-to-paste, drag-out, pinning, and incognito mode has enough moving parts that a first-time user can miss a gesture. Edge-Drop ships a first-run onboarding tutorial that walks through the five core interactions in a few minutes. The tutorial can be replayed any time from the Behaviour tab — useful when a user forgets a gesture, when a new employee joins a team that uses Edge-Drop, or when a feature was added in a recent update and the user wants a refresher. This guide covers what the onboarding teaches, how to replay it, how it interacts with the language picker on first run, and what to do if it does not launch. For neighbouring topics see how to read Edge-Drop's in-app changelog and how to report a bug in Edge-Drop.

What the onboarding covers

The first-run tutorial walks through five core interactions:

1. Hover open — move the cursor into the configured edge trigger strip. The shelf opens after a short dwell. The tutorial highlights the trigger strip with a visual cue.
2. Click-to-paste — click an item on the shelf. The item is pushed to the clipboard and pasted into the previously foreground window. The tutorial demonstrates with a sample text item.
3. Drag-out — click and hold an item, drag it out of the shelf onto a target window, release. The tutorial uses a placeholder target (e.g., a small "drop here" zone).
4. Pin and unpin — right-click an item, choose "Pin." The item moves to the pinned section. Right-click again, choose "Unpin."
5. Incognito — toggle incognito on, copy a test string, confirm it does not appear on the shelf, toggle incognito off.

Each step is a single screen with a short description, a visual cue, and a "Next" button. The user can skip any step or exit the tutorial entirely. Progress is saved; if the user exits mid-tutorial, the next launch offers to resume.

The tutorial takes about three to five minutes for a typical user. It does not cover advanced features (auto-delete timers, preview flyout multi-select, language switching); those are in their own guides.

How to replay the tutorial

The replay control is in the Behaviour tab of the settings panel:

1. Open Edge-Drop settings (tray icon → Settings, or Alt+C then the gear icon).
2. Go to the Behaviour tab.
3. Find the "Replay onboarding tutorial" button (or equivalent label).
4. Click it.
5. The tutorial launches immediately, starting from step 1.

The replay is identical to the first-run tutorial — same steps, same visuals, same skip-and-exit options. Replaying does not reset any user data (history, pins, settings); it is purely a teaching tool.

The replay is useful when:

• A user forgot how to pin an item and wants a 30-second refresher.
• A new employee joined a team that uses Edge-Drop and wants the official walkthrough.
• A recent update added a feature and the user wants to see the official gesture demo.
• A user is troubleshooting a gesture that does not seem to work and wants to confirm they are doing it correctly.

How the tutorial interacts with the language picker

On first run, Edge-Drop typically shows the language picker before the tutorial. The flow is:

1. Edge-Drop launches for the first time.
2. A language picker dialog appears, defaulting to the Windows system language.
3. The user confirms or changes the language.
4. The onboarding tutorial launches in the chosen language.

If the user changes the UI language later — see how to change language and RTL layout — the tutorial does not auto-replay. The user can replay it manually; it will run in the currently selected language.

If the language pack for the chosen language is incomplete (typically below 80% translated — see how to change language and RTL layout), the tutorial runs with the missing strings in English. This is preferable to blocking the tutorial on translation completion.

For RTL languages (Arabic, Hebrew, Persian), the tutorial UI mirrors automatically. The visual cues (arrows, highlight zones) flip to match the RTL layout. The gestures themselves are the same; only the visual presentation mirrors.

How to skip the tutorial on first run

If the user does not want the tutorial on first run:

1. When the tutorial launches, click "Skip" or "Exit."
2. The tutorial closes and Edge-Drop is ready for normal use.
3. The tutorial can be replayed later from the Behaviour tab.

Skipping is the right choice for users who:

• Already know the gestures from a previous install.
• Prefer to learn by doing.
• Are setting up Edge-Drop on a machine for someone else and will hand off the machine.

There is no penalty for skipping. The replay button is always available.

What to do if the tutorial does not launch

If the first-run tutorial does not launch on a fresh install:

1. Check that this is actually a first run. Edge-Drop tracks whether the tutorial has been shown in config.json. If config.json exists from a previous install, the tutorial is suppressed.
2. Delete %APPDATA%\Edge-Drop\config.json (with Edge-Drop quit) and restart Edge-Drop. This resets the first-run flag.
3. Alternatively, use the "Replay onboarding tutorial" button in the Behaviour tab — this works regardless of the first-run flag.

If the replay button is not visible in the Behaviour tab:

• The current version may have moved it. Check the About / Help tab as a fallback.
• The current version may be old; update to the latest. See how Edge-Drop updates on GitHub builds.
• The current version may have removed the button. Use the in-app changelog to verify. See how to read Edge-Drop's in-app changelog.

How the tutorial interacts with multiple monitors

If Edge-Drop is configured to use a specific monitor (see how to pick which monitor Edge-Drop uses) and the tutorial launches, the tutorial appears on the same monitor as the shelf. The visual cues (highlight on the trigger strip, drop zone) are positioned relative to the shelf's actual location.

If the monitor configuration changes mid-tutorial (e.g., a monitor is disconnected), the tutorial may need to be restarted. The tutorial does not auto-recover from monitor topology changes.

How the tutorial interacts with fullscreen apps

If a fullscreen game or presentation is active when the tutorial launches, the tutorial may be suppressed (per the fullscreen suppression behaviour — see how to keep Edge-Drop quiet in fullscreen games). The tutorial will launch on the next non-fullscreen opportunity.

For first-run installs, this is rare — the user is unlikely to install Edge-Drop mid-game. For replays, the user should exit any fullscreen app before clicking "Replay onboarding tutorial."

What Edge-Drop does not claim

• The tutorial does not cover every feature. It covers the five core interactions; advanced features are in their own guides.
• The tutorial does not adapt to the user's prior experience. A user who has used hover-shelf apps before gets the same tutorial as a first-timer.
• The tutorial does not test the user. There is no quiz, no completion certificate. It is purely demonstrative.
• The tutorial does not collect feedback. There is no "Was this helpful?" prompt. Feedback goes through the bug-report channel — see how to report a bug in Edge-Drop.
• The tutorial does not auto-update when new features are added. The tutorial content is fixed per release; new features get their own in-app hints or changelog entries.

How to give feedback on the tutorial

If the tutorial was unclear, missed a gesture, or did not launch correctly, the user can file a bug report. See how to report a bug in Edge-Drop for the template. Tutorial feedback is treated like any other bug report; the maintainers use it to improve the tutorial in future releases.

Replaying after a long break

Users returning to Edge-Drop after months away often forget whether a gesture is click-to-paste or drag-out. A two-minute replay is faster than re-reading the docs and faster than guessing wrong three times. The replay button is intentionally cheap to press for this reason.

Summary

Edge-Drop's first-run onboarding tutorial walks through five core interactions: hover open, click-to-paste, drag-out, pin/unpin, and incognito. It takes three to five minutes, can be skipped, and can be replayed any time from the Behaviour tab. The tutorial launches after the language picker on first run and respects the chosen language, including RTL mirroring for Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian. If the tutorial does not launch, deleting config.json resets the first-run flag; the replay button is the alternative. The tutorial covers the basics; advanced features are in their own guides.

Related reading

• How to Report a Bug in Edge-Drop
• How to Build From Source (For the Curious)
• How to Install Edge-Drop on Windows 10 and 11
• What Local-First Software Means for Clipboard Apps

Sources

• Microsoft Learn — First-run experience guidance for desktop apps — reference for the conventions Edge-Drop follows for first-run state tracking
• Nielsen Norman Group — Onboarding patterns for desktop apps — UX research reference for the progressive-disclosure approach Edge-Drop's tutorial uses
• Microsoft Learn — Multiple monitors and DPI awareness — documents the multi-monitor behaviour the tutorial must respect
• W3C — Authoring HTML: Bidirectional text — the W3C guidance Edge-Drop follows for RTL mirroring in the tutorial UI
• Edge-Drop — GitHub Releases page — where tutorial updates ship with each release

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