What Edge-Drop Is Not Trying to Become

Edge-Drop is a Windows-only, local-first, hover-activated clipboard shelf. It captures text, URLs, images, and files, and it lets the user drag them out into desktop apps using real OS file handles. That is the whole scope. This page lists what Edge-Drop is not trying to become, in the interest of honesty. Tools that try to be five things usually do none of them well; Edge-Drop's choice is to be one thing. For related reading, see the case for boring clipboard software, competing with Ditto without pretending to be Ditto, what local-first software means for clipboard apps, and why some clipboard apps will never sync.

Not ShareX

ShareX is a screenshot and screen-recording tool with a clipboard-history side feature. It is the right tool for users whose workflow is capture-first: region screenshots, scrolling captures, GIF recording, OCR, upload to a host. ShareX does this well, and it is free and open-source.

Edge-Drop is not ShareX. It does not capture screenshots. It does not record video. It does not upload to image hosts. It does not have an OCR feature. The clipboard shelf captures what the user copies, and that is all.

If the workflow is "take a screenshot, annotate it, upload it," ShareX is the right tool. If the workflow is "stage items I have copied, drag them into desktop apps," Edge-Drop is the right tool. The two are complements, not competitors, and a user who does both can run both.

For more, see choose ShareX first if capture is the job.

Not PhraseExpress

PhraseExpress is a text expander. It replaces typed shortcuts with longer text: typing "sig1" expands to a full signature, typing "ticket1" expands to a ticket template. It is the right tool for users who type the same reply, the same address, or the same SQL skeleton dozens of times a day.

Edge-Drop is not PhraseExpress. It does not expand text. It does not have a snippet library. It does not watch what you type. The clipboard shelf captures what you copy, not what you type, and it does not transform either.

If the workflow is "type a shortcut, get a longer string," PhraseExpress (or Espanso, which is free and open-source) is the right tool. If the workflow is "stage items I have copied, drag them into desktop apps," Edge-Drop is the right tool. Again, the two are complements.

For more, see choose an expander first if you type the same text.

Not 1Password

1Password, Bitwarden, KeePass, and the other password managers are vaults. They store credentials, generate passwords, autofill login forms, and sync across devices. They are the right tools for credentials, and they should be the only tools that touch credentials.

Edge-Drop is not a password manager. It does not store passwords. It does not generate passwords. It does not autofill login forms. It does not sync across devices. The clipboard shelf does see passwords that the user copies from a password manager — this is unavoidable, because the password goes through the clipboard to reach the browser — but Edge-Drop treats password-manager copies specially: it respects the "concealed" clipboard format that 1Password, Bitwarden, and KeePass set, and it ignores copies that carry the Windows "exclude from clipboard history" flag.

The honest summary: if a password ends up on the clipboard, Edge-Drop may briefly hold it, but it tries not to, and it does not persist copies that the password manager has marked as sensitive. For the actual storage and autofill of credentials, use a password manager. For more, see what Edge-Drop does with password-manager copies.

Not Dropbox

Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, and iCloud are cloud storage and sync services. They move files between devices, store them in the cloud, and share them with other users. They are the right tools for cross-device file access and sharing.

Edge-Drop is not Dropbox. It does not sync files to the cloud. It does not share files with other users. It does not have a cloud component at all. The clipboard shelf is local-first: items are stored on the device, encrypted with Windows DPAPI, and never uploaded.

If the workflow is "make this file available on my phone," use Quick Share, Dropbox, or OneDrive. If the workflow is "stage items I have copied on this PC, drag them into desktop apps on this PC," use Edge-Drop. The two are not in the same category, despite both involving files.

For more on the cross-device question, see file-transfer shelves vs official Nearby Share and why some clipboard apps will never sync.

Not a screenshot tool

This overlaps with "not ShareX," but is worth stating separately. Edge-Drop does not take screenshots. It does not capture regions, windows, or scrolling content. It does not annotate. It does not record video.

The reason is scope. A screenshot tool is a different product, with different inputs (screen capture APIs), different outputs (image files), and different UIs (region selectors, annotation canvases). Building both in one tool would either compromise the screenshot side (because the clipboard UI does not fit) or compromise the clipboard side (because the screenshot UI gets in the way).

If the workflow needs screenshots, use Snipping Tool, ShareX, or Greenshot. Edge-Drop will happily hold screenshot images that the user has copied to the clipboard, but it does not take them.

Not a text expander

This overlaps with "not PhraseExpress," but again is worth stating separately. Edge-Drop does not watch what you type. It does not have a snippet library. It does not expand shortcuts. The clipboard shelf captures what you copy, and that is all.

The reason is the same as for screenshots: a text expander is a different product, with different inputs (keystrokes), different outputs (typed text), and different UIs (snippet editors, expansion triggers). Building both in one tool would compromise one or the other.

If the workflow needs text expansion, use Espanso (free, open-source) or PhraseExpress. Edge-Drop will hold text snippets that the user has copied, but it does not expand them.

Not a cloud clipboard

Edge-Drop does not have cloud sync. There is no Edge-Drop account. There is no Edge-Drop cloud. Items do not leave the device. The honest statement is "no cloud sync," not "cloud sync coming soon."

This is a deliberate choice, not a missing feature. Cloud sync for a clipboard introduces a threat model that the rest of the product does not have, and shipping it carelessly would make the product worse. For the threat model that real E2E sync would have to solve, see cloud sync roadmaps: what E2E would have to mean.

If the workflow needs cross-device clipboard, use Win+V's cloud sync (text-only, optional, off by default) or a separate E2E file-sync tool. Edge-Drop does not compete on sync.

Not a scripting surface

Edge-Drop does not have a plugin SDK, a command system, or a rule engine. The feature set is fixed and small. Users who want scripted transformations — auto-redact tokens on copy, auto-strip formatting, auto-route copies into named tabs by source app — should use CopyQ, which has a real scripting surface.

Edge-Drop does not compete on scripting. For more, see the plugin SDK question: when custom formats matter and when CopyQ commands beat any shelf.

Not macOS, not Linux

Edge-Drop is Windows-only. There is no macOS build, no Linux build, and no plan for either. The hover-shelf interaction depends on Win32 APIs (WS_EX_NOACTIVATE, OLE drag-and-drop, SHQueryUserNotificationState) that do not have direct equivalents on other platforms.

For users on macOS, Paste, Maccy, and Raycast are the right tools. For users on Linux, CopyQ, GPaste, Klipper, and Clipman are the right tools. Edge-Drop does not compete on cross-platform support. For more, see Windows equivalents if you used Paste, Maccy, or Raycast and Linux clipboard managers if you dual-boot.

What Edge-Drop is trying to become

After all the negatives, the positive scope:

• A Windows clipboard shelf. The shelf lives at a screen edge, opens on hover, and gets out of the way when not in use.
• A drag surface. Items can be dragged out into desktop apps using real OS file handles, not HTML5 drags.
• A local-first store. Items are encrypted with Windows DPAPI, stored on disk, and never uploaded.
• A small, fixed feature set. Capture, paste, pin, search, filter, stack. No scripting, no AI, no sync, no plugins.

The goal is to be the best tool for the specific workflow of "stage items I have copied, drag them into desktop apps, on Windows." Everything outside that scope is something else's job.

For more on the scope decision, see the case for boring clipboard software and competing with Ditto without pretending to be Ditto.

Related reading

• Competing With Ditto Without Pretending to Be Ditto
• How to Cite Open-Source Tools in a Roundup Fairly
• What Local-First Software Means for Clipboard Apps
• How to Enable Clipboard History in Windows 11

Sources

• ShareX — GitHub README — official source for the screenshot and capture tool that Edge-Drop explicitly does not replace
• Espanso — GitHub README — official source for the open-source text expander that Edge-Drop explicitly does not replace
• 1Password — Security architecture — official documentation for the password manager whose clipboard-conceal flag Edge-Drop respects
• Microsoft Support — Using the clipboard on Windows — official Windows clipboard documentation, including the cloud sync that Edge-Drop explicitly does not ship
• Microsoft Learn — SHQueryUserNotificationState — official documentation for one of the Win32 APIs Edge-Drop uses and that has no direct cross-platform equivalent

Copy. Stack. Drop.

Transform your clipboard into an interactive edge shelf. Stack, pin, and drag assets into any app with zero friction.

Download for Windows Get from Microsoft Store

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