Where Edge Drop Stores Data on Disk

Edge Drop stores everything locally in your Windows user profile. For the GitHub build, the folder is %APPDATA%\Edge-Drop (usually C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Roaming\Edge-Drop); paste %APPDATA% into File Explorer's address bar to get there. The history index inside it is encrypted with Windows DPAPI, but captured images, the full text of long clips and your settings are ordinary files.

Where the folder is

Folder names on Windows aren't case-sensitive, so edge-drop and Edge-Drop are the same folder. Some older Edge Drop documentation gives %LOCALAPPDATA% for the GitHub build; the folder is in Roaming AppData (%APPDATA%).

To open the GitHub build's folder:

1. Press Win+R.
2. Type %APPDATA%\Edge-Drop and press Enter.

What each file and folder holds

You won't find copies of files you copied: Edge Drop stores file paths, never the files themselves. Emoji recents and whether the pinned section is collapsed are kept in Electron's built-in browser storage rather than in these files. Electron, the framework Edge Drop is built on, may also create folders of its own here; the table covers the files Edge Drop writes.

The Store build stages drag-out images in %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp\Edge-Drop instead of a temp folder inside its data folder.

What is encrypted, and what isn't

Only the history index, items.json, is encrypted. Edge Drop uses Electron's safeStorage, which on Windows uses DPAPI. Data protected this way can normally be decrypted only by the same Windows user account that encrypted it, which protects it from other accounts on the PC, but not from other apps running under your own account. If encryption isn't available on a system, the index is written as plain JSON.

Everything else in the table is a plain file. Anyone who can read your profile folder can open your captured images and the text files for long clips. If that matters for your PC, turn on device encryption or BitLocker for the whole drive, and keep history short with an auto-delete timer. Does a local clipboard app need encryption at rest? looks at the trade-offs.

How big the folder gets

There's no fixed figure; it depends on what you copy. What limits it:

• History capacity (Behaviour tab) keeps at most 100, 250 (default), 500 or 1000 unpinned items. Pinned items are extra.
• Images have no size cap, so screenshots are usually the largest part of the folder.
• Text is capped at 500,000 characters per item.
• Files cost almost nothing, because only the path is stored.

To shrink it, lower History capacity, set an Auto-delete timer, or use the Clear menu on the shelf. In version 0.3.2, the long-text files in payloads can outlive items removed by the auto-delete timer, so check that folder if you need old text gone.

How to back up and restore Edge Drop

1. Right-click the tray icon and select Quit Edge-Drop, so nothing is written mid-copy.
2. Copy the whole %APPDATA%\Edge-Drop folder somewhere safe.
3. To restore, quit Edge Drop, put the folder back in %APPDATA%, and start Edge Drop.

Restore to the same Windows account. Because the index is encrypted with DPAPI, a copy moved to a different account or a different PC can't be decrypted there. Edge Drop has no export or import feature and no sync, so there's no supported way to move history between PCs; moving Edge Drop to a new PC shows how to rebuild your pins there instead. settings.json isn't encrypted, but it isn't meant for hand-editing either; set options in the Settings window.

How to delete all Edge Drop data

1. Quit Edge Drop from the tray.
2. Delete the %APPDATA%\Edge-Drop folder.
3. Empty the Recycle Bin.

Edge Drop starts with default settings and an empty history the next time it runs. To remove the app as well, see how to uninstall Edge Drop cleanly.

Does Edge Drop store anything elsewhere?

Not your clipboard data. Edge Drop has no telemetry, no account and no cloud sync, and it never uploads your history. The GitHub build contacts GitHub to check for and download updates (none at all with update mode Off), and the Store build makes no update requests. The only other request happens if you drag an image from a web page onto the shelf and the browser supplies just its address; Edge Drop then downloads that image. Is Edge Drop safe? looks at the wider privacy picture.

FAQ

Can another Windows user on my PC see my Edge Drop history?

Each account has its own %APPDATA%, so each user has a separate Edge Drop folder. The history index is DPAPI-encrypted to your account; images and long-text files rely on normal Windows file permissions.

Can I move the data folder to another drive?

Edge Drop has no setting for a custom data location.

Is it safe to delete the temp folder?

Yes, after quitting Edge Drop. It holds only staging copies, and Edge Drop also cleans up orphaned temp files when it starts.

Related reading

• How to Uninstall Edge Drop Cleanly
• Is Edge Drop Safe? Privacy, Network and Storage Explained
• Does DPAPI Protect Clipboard History From Other Users?
• Clear Edge Drop History on Restart (Keep Pins)

Sources

• safeStorage (Electron documentation) — how DPAPI protection works on Windows and who can decrypt.
• Understanding how packaged desktop apps run on Windows (Microsoft Learn) — AppData redirection for Microsoft Store apps.

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