Ditto vs QuickBoard vs Windows Clipboard History

Ctrl+C keeps one clip in a single slot on this PC, with the next copy taking that slot before the earlier line is pasted. Win+V, Ditto, and QuickBoard each keep more than that one slot. They do not keep the same things. Win+V stops at 25 clips, with no search box in the panel on this PC. Ditto can share clips with other computers on your local network. QuickBoard searches a list that stays on this PC, and you set how many unpinned clips it holds.

Copying several lines before you paste is the same job, on the page for copying several clips, then pasting an earlier one.

Win+V, already on the PC

Windows 10 added this panel in the October 2018 update, and Windows 11 still opens it with Win+V over the window you are using. The panel stays off until you click Turn on in Win+V or switch Clipboard history to On under Settings, System, Clipboard. It keeps 25 clips. You can pin a row. That pin survives a restart of Windows. Unpinned clips are cleared on the next start. The same Win+V window also has tabs for emoji and for symbols.

There is no search box, so you scroll the thumbnails in the panel. There is no plain-text paste in that panel. Text can move to another Windows PC when Sync across your devices is on for the same Microsoft account. Images from that copy stay on this PC. No switch sends those clips only to other computers on the local network. The steps are on turning on clipboard history in Windows 11.

What Ditto keeps

Ditto is a free open-source clipboard program for Windows. Clips remain in Ditto on the next start of Windows, with search across that store on the PC. It can share those clips with other computers on the local network. That local-network share is the part missing from both the Win+V panel and from QuickBoard on this PC. Ditto includes groups, tags, its own shortcuts, encryption, and a portable build you can run without a normal install. You set the cap, the shortcut, and the network share inside Ditto, in a window that is separate from the Win+V panel.

Ditto can make a plain-text version of a clip, or change its case, inside Ditto's own settings on this PC. People pasting code all day often open Ditto, as do people who want clips shared on the local network. That code case is on the page about an earlier code clip.

What QuickBoard keeps instead

QuickBoard is the clipboard tool in PeakFlow, six tools in one Windows installer, and you can turn each tool on or off. It opens with Ctrl+Shift+V. The free tool includes history, copy, paste, pins, fuzzy full-text search, image clips, source tracking, edit text, and link preview. The free download asks for no account and includes no telemetry from this suite on the PC.

The history field starts at 500 and accepts any number from 10 to 2000, with pinned clips sitting above that cap on this PC. Unpinned clips older than 24 hours are removed by default, and pinned clips stay past that removal. Search is fuzzy across the stored text. A plain-text paste mode strips fonts. You can edit the text of a clip in QuickBoard, then paste the edited line into the editor. A copied image can be read for text on this PC, and QuickBoard does not share clips on the local network, and it does not include a script editor.

QuickBoard skips the copy when the window title matches 1Password, Bitwarden, LastPass, KeePass, Dashlane, RoboForm, Keeper, NordPass, Enpass, Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, PayPal, Windows Security, Credential Manager, or User Account Control. Secret-like text stays in the list with the characters masked. Encryption of the store is a Pro switch that starts off. Tags, collections, custom hotkeys, import and export, and the AI clipboard actions are Pro. The download includes a 14-day Pro trial. Pro is $6.99 a month, or $39.99 a year, which the price page shows as $3.33 a month. One tool is $9.99 once. All six tools are $49.99 once on the price page.

Side by side

Which list to open

Open Win+V for a PC with nothing extra installed, under 25 clips, where copied text may need another Windows PC through the Microsoft account switch. Open Ditto if you want the open-source build, a cap you set in Ditto, or clips shared with computers on the local network. Open QuickBoard if you want fuzzy search, plain-text paste, and a cap from 10 to 2000 inside PeakFlow, on Windows or on a Mac.

You can check those behaviors in the programs on a normal Windows desktop. A line such as an order number, a street address, a tracking link, a discount code, a meeting link, a phone number, or a stack trace, copied on the office desktop and needed on a laptop in the next room, is either Ditto's local-network share or Win+V text sync for the same Microsoft account. QuickBoard does not send that clip to the second machine, the kitchen laptop, or another desk. CopyQ is included with them on the page for QuickBoard, Ditto, CopyQ, and Win+V.

Moving a clip you still need

Win+V does not export its list to another program. Install Ditto or QuickBoard, keep copying, and the new program records clips from that moment on this PC. A pin in the Win+V panel does not move with you. Copy that row again if you still need it in the new list. You can leave Win+V on, or switch Clipboard history off under Settings, System, Clipboard, if the two panels get in the way of each other.

There is no one-step copy of a Ditto store into QuickBoard. Copy the clips you still need, one row at a time. QuickBoard import and export are Pro features, and that import does not open a Ditto database. You can turn QuickBoard off inside PeakFlow if you only want Ditto running on the PC. The wider guide is what a clipboard manager keeps after Win+V drops a clip.