GUI, Keyboard, or CLI

In addition to the Edit menu, you can also use the keyboard to edit an element. With the element selected, pressing F2 opens the element for editing, and pressing F2 again saves and returns to the main window. Elements can be edited either in the main window or in the editor you set as default.

The software lets you tag or pin elements with predefined or DIY tags. You can also determine the slot in the hierarchy that an element will occupy. Phrases that you need all the time can be pinned to the top of the hierarchy.

In the settings, you can alternatively enable controls like in Vim. The single and double arrow keys at the bottom are used to move elements up or down, or all the way up or down, respectively. If you are missing a search function right now, just start typing in the main window. The software highlights the found locations in color.

In addition to the everyday functions described so far, CopyQ has a lot of advanced features that would go beyond the scope of this article in their entirety. However, I will at least briefly mention the most important ones. For reference, please refer to the explanations in the documentation under Advanced Topics.

Professional Feature Set

Advanced options include protecting individual elements or entire tabs, which you can configure in the preferences below Items | Encryption. In addition, items, notes, or tabs can be synchronized with a directory on the hard disk as a backup under Items | Synchronize, while the import function works in the opposite direction. If you want to protect content from tabs from unauthorized access, the software also lets you encrypt with GnuPG (Figure 5). Backups [3] offer a different form of security for the entire application (Figure 6).

Figure 5: CopyQ offers to encrypt individual items or entire tabs via GnuPG.

Figure 6: The software offers several options for backing up content. In addition to backing up the entire application via a script, individual tabs can also be mirrored to a directory on the hard disk.

You can enable predefined commands in CopyQ either in the main menu via File | Commands/Global Shortcuts or via F6. You can also add your own commands in the same way. These either act on new content in the clipboard, or you can execute them via the menu or keyboard shortcuts.

This can be used, for example, to integrate new commands into the menus, to automatically move URLs to their own tabs or to insert selected elements into external applications such as web browsers or image editors. The documentation provides further examples [4]. An API lets you run scripts to automate more complex operations [5]. Predefined commands [6] and scripts [7] for use with CopyQ can be found on GitHub.

All of CopyQ's functions can also be controlled by keyboard shortcuts. First of all, you will want to define one for the main window in the preferences below Shortcuts. A process manager that lists only CopyQ's processes can be called up in the main menu by selecting File | Process Manager or by using Ctrl+Shift+Z (Figure 7).

Figure 7: The Process Manager, located under the File menu, shows all of CopyQ's processes since the application was last started, along with their statuses and potential errors.

Conclusions

CopyQ has outpaced the competition in recent years. It impresses with carefully considered functions that have supported me in my daily work for years, without any bugs annoying me in the process. Currently, CopyQ is probably the most powerful clipboard manager in the world. At the same time, the advanced functionality does not get in the way of the simple use of everyday functions anywhere. So, if you don't need the goodies, just ignore them.