Clipboard on Android: how to activate and use it with the Google keyboard

Some of these tools are better known, such as typing by sliding the finger on the smartphone screen, and others more unknown, such as the clipboard.

To put an end to this ignorance, we will develop a complete guide on the Google keyboard clipboard in which we will explain how to activate it and how you can use it to store texts that you will paste later.

Without further ado, we dive right into Gboard’s clipboard feature to tell you all about it.

How to have the Google clipboard on your Android?

The clipboard is a function developed by Google to store the texts that you copy on your Android phone, also having the possibility of storing links and copied images.

The Google clipboard saves this copied information for an hour so that you can quickly access it and use it in any app. Also, you should take into account the existence of the “Fix” function, which allows you to keep any text on the clipboard permanently.

To better understand the clipboard function, we are going to explain it with an example. Put yourself in a situation where every day you have to ask someone about their health status through WhatsApp.

“Hi Maria, how are you feeling? Do you need anything?” is what you usually ask. To avoid having to type this day after day, it is best to copy it, store it and pin it to the Google clipboard so you only have to paste the phrase every morning.

This very useful clipboard is a function of the Google keyboard, Gboard, so you have to use it as the keyboard of your Android mobile to help the clipboard.

How to activate the clipboard in Gboard, the Google keyboard

Despite having the Google keyboard on your mobile, to use the Gboard clipboard, you must activate the function manually. These are the steps you must follow:

1. Open the keyboard in any application.
2. Click on the clipboard icon between the “GIF” and the settings wheel. If it doesn’t appear, click on the button with the three horizontal dots and click on “Clipboard.”
3. Click on the option “Activate clipboard” or slide to the right the box in the upper right corner of the keyboard. Thus, the clipboard will be activated and will be ready for use.

How to add the clipboard to the navigation bar

If, as we mentioned above, the clipboard shortcut does not appear in the Gboard navigation bar, you can easily add it to have it handy.

The steps you must follow to add the clipboard to the keyboard navigation bar are these:

1. Open the keyboard in any application.
2. Click on the button with three horizontal dots in the upper right area of ​​the keyboard.
3. In the lower menu, press and hold the “Clipboard” button and drag it to the navigation bar to place it where you like the most. And that’s it; you can access the clipboard directly when using Gboard.

How to use the clipboard

The Google keyboard clipboard installed on your Android mobile is ready for use, so we will learn how to make the most of it because there are many things you can do with it. We started!

How to copy and paste texts

The main function of this tool is to store the copied texts in the terminal. Therefore, the first thing we are going to do is copy those texts to the clipboard and paste them into any app from there.

For example, we will copy a text from Google Chrome and paste it into a WhatsApp conversation. This is the procedure:

1. Select the text you want to copy by pressing for a few seconds on it and clicking on the “Copy” option.
2. Go to WhatsApp (you know, or any app) and display the Google keyboard.
3. In the navigation bar, you will see a shortcut to the text you just copied. Click on it to paste it into the WhatsApp text field. If the text does not appear in the navigation bar, click on the clipboard icon and tap on the copied text to paste it into the app.

How to fix texts never to lose them

We have already commented that the texts, links, words, images, and other content copied to your mobile phone are only kept on the keyboard clipboard for one hour.

However, we have also mentioned that it is possible to increase that time without limit by pinning the texts to the clipboard. In this way, even if time passes and you store more information, you will never lose it.

Here’s how you can pin texts to the Google keyboard clipboard:

1. Open the Google keyboard and access the clipboard by clicking on its icon.
2. Press and hold on to the text you want to fix.
3. In the options menu that appears, tap “Set. ” Done, the text will be fixed and will not disappear from the clipboard in the future. You always have the option to remove that permanent storage by repeating the process and selecting “Don’t fix.”

How to delete stored text

If you no longer need the text stored on the Gboard clipboard, you have the option to delete it to do some cleanup. To delete stored text, follow these steps:

1. Open the Google keyboard and access the clipboard by clicking on its icon.
2. Press and hold on to the text you want to fix.
3. In the options menu that appears, click on “Delete,” and the text will disappear from the Gboard clipboard.

Before concluding, we must explain that the pencil icon, located in the upper right corner of the clipboard, also gives you access to the functions of fixing and deleting the copied texts.

You have to tap on the pencil, select one or more texts and click on the fix icon (pushpin) or delete (trash can). Thus, you have two options to use the most important functions of the Gboard clipboard.

But the functions of the Google keyboard go much further. With Gboard, you can also use Google translate while typing and make the keyboard float. Before saying goodbye, we encourage you to try all these functions to discover everything that one of the most pampered apps on Google can offer you.

Sharlene Meriel

Sharlene Meriel is an avid gamer with a knack for technology. He has been writing about the latest technologies for the past 5 years. His contribution in technology journalism has been noteworthy. He is also a day trader with interest in the Forex market.