If you often copy and paste a lot on Windows 10, you definitely find the Clipboard History tool very useful. It is a Windows 10 feature that lets you see the items that you have copied to the clipboard. You will see a list of up to 25 entries of your copied items starting from the most recent.
That way, you don’t have to copy the item again. Open the Clipboard history and click the item you want to paste again.
But, there are times when your Windows 10 computer’s Clipboard History is greyed out, empty, won’t sync or not displayed/showing up. If you can’t find or access your clipboard history on PC, you are in luck as we will be discussing how you can remedy this error in this guide.
To resolve the issue that causes your clipboard history not to work, display, or function properly, follow each solution below.
Fixing Clipboard History Not Working or Showing Up on Windows 10 PC
There are different reasons why your clipboard history is not showing up, functioning, or not working at all in your Windows 10 PC. Regardless of the cause, you can do each troubleshooting method and workaround one at a time and check if it shows up or not.
Solution #1 – Restart your Windows Explorer
- Launch the Task Manager.
- Look for Windows Explorer and highlight it.
- Click the Restart button at the bottom.
Solution #2 – Check If Clipboard History is Enabled

- Open the Settings menu of your Windows 10 PC.
- Select System.
- Choose Clipboard.
- Look for Clipboard history.
- Toggle to button to On.
- If it is On, toggle the button to Off.
- Wait for a few seconds.
- Then, toggle it back to On.
Solution #3 – Clear Clipboard Data
- Launch the Settings menu.
- Go to System.
- Select Clipboard.
- Scroll down and look for Clear clipboard data.
- Click the Clear button.
Solution #4 – Sign in to your Microsoft Account
- Open the Settings menu.
- Select System.
- Go to Clipboard.
- Look for Sync across devices.
- Click the Get started button.
- Now, enter your Microsoft account password.
- Click Sign in.
- Click Automatically sync text that I copy.
Solution #5 – Edit the Registry Editor
- Open the Registry Editor. You can use the Windows Search option.
- Navigate to this address: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System.
- Look for the AllowClipboardHistory entry.
- If you don’t find it, right-click anywhere in the empty space.
- Select New.
- Click DWORD 32-bit Value.
- Name it AllowClipboardHistory.
- Double-click AllowClipboardHistory entry.
- Set the Value data to 1.
- Click OK.
- Now, look for AllowCrossDeviceClipboard entry.
- If there is none, right-click again on an empty space.
- Click New.
- Select DWORD 32-bit Value.
- Name it AllowCrossDeviceClipboard.
- Double-Click on the AllowCrossDeviceClipboard entry.
- Set the Value data to 1.
- Click OK.
- Exit the Registry Editor.
- Restart your Windows 10 PC.
Solution #6 – Enable Clipboard History via Group Policy Editor
- Search for Group Policy Editor and open the application.
- Go to Computer Configuration.
- Select Administrative Templates.
- Click System.
- Choose OS Policies.
- Look for the Allow Clipboard History entry.
- Double-click on it.
- Select Enable.
- Press Apply.
- Click OK.
Which of the solutions above helped you fix your Clipboard History not functioning error on Windows 10? You can share it below in the comment section.
*PLEASE* stop telling everyone to “log in using a MS account”. The clipboard works with (or with) an MS account. (I don’t want my clipboard shared with MS, or anyone else.)