March 3rd, 2008
My 10 favorite Windows programs of all time
ClipMate Clipboard Extender (ThornSoft Development)
Info / Download
Price: $35; discounts for multiple licenses; free with TrialPay
System requirements: Windows 95 or later
I discovered the concept of the Windows Clipboard extender years ago, well before the turn of the century, and after going back and forth with several options I settled on ClipMate. I have never regretted that decision. Developer Chris Thornton is exceptionally dedicated and hard-working and has kept this product fresh with a steady progression of updates through the years. He writes good solid code, too: I can testify that this program performs well with both XP and Vista.
The idea behind ClipMate is simple: Anything you cut or copy to the Clipboard gets saved in the ClipMate database where it can be recalled any time. This makes it easy to perform on-the-fly backups. If you’re working in a web-based editor and you’re worried you might lose all your editing if you accidentally navigate away from the page, just press Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C. Now all your work is on the Clipboard and will stay there for at least a few weeks (you can configure the default sizes and mark some clips to be spared when others are purged).
ClipMate can also manipulate the contents of the Clipboard, changing formats or cleaning out unwanted cruft. Once you memorize a few keystrokes you can strip away almost any sort of formatting. Ctrl+Alt+B, for example, removes stray linebreaks from the current contents of the Clipboard, and Ctrl+Alt+T removes all non-text formats. Or you can use the Clean Up Text dialog box, which offers a few dozen more options.
The program does magic with multiple Clipboard entries, too. You can copy a bunch of scattered sections from a document, then select the entries in ClipMate Explorer and merge them into a single clip for pasting. Or use PowerPaste to copy a group of items, one by one, and then past them into a target application in the same order. I use this feature to copy song titles from MP3 playlists and then paste them into a tag editor.
At $35, ClipMate’s price tag might scare some people off. But in my usage over the past decade I figure it’s paid for itself many, many times over. If you’re not convinced, check out the 30–day trial version, and if free is your only budget option then you can sign up for a free offer from a merchant through TrialPay.
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Ed Bott is an award-winning technology writer with more than two decades' experience writing for mainstream media outlets and online publications. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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| 03/03/08
