clipboard

Many people are casual users of their clipboard, employing it occasionally to cut and paste Web addresses and other bits and pieces. For other people, including anyone who works with code, the clipboard is a more serious tool. Free Clipboard Viewer is a simple program that lets users view whatever is on their clipboard at a given time in a variety of formats. It's not fancy, but it might be exactly what you need if you're a heavy clipboard user.

The program's interface is plain, consisting mostly of a pane that displays whatever is currently in your … Read more

Perhaps one of the more useful features implemented on computers is the ability to copy and paste items, allowing for the quick transfer of text, images, and other items between separate documents. Though this function is integral to many computing environments and tasks, there are some limits to the default clipboard in OS X and other operating systems, with the primary one being that it can only hold one copy instance at a time.

If you copy an item to the clipboard and then copy a second item, the first item will be overwritten so you will need to go … Read more

The Windows Clipboard only displays basic file formats like text and bitmap when you copy a file to it, but in fact it makes a wide range of formats available; it just doesn't show them. NirSoft's InsideClipboard is a small, free utility that displays the binary content of all the formats currently stored in the Clipboard and lets you save the content of a specified format as a binary file.

Like most of NirSoft's utilities, Inside Clipboard is completely portable and runs as soon as you click the program file, with no formal installation required. It has … Read more

If you've ever had to insert multiple Unicode characters while typing, you know what a pain it is to have to go back and forth inserting characters into your text. Character Map (Java) is a simple--but helpful--program that lets you select the Unicode characters you want to insert and copy them to your clipboard for quick pasting.

We have to admit, we were a bit stumped by the program at first glance. Character Map (Java) runs as an executable file, so no installation is needed; however, it comes in a ZIP file filled with more than 20 different files. … Read more

In retails situations, bar codes can make it much easier to keep up with inventory, and they certainly add speed and accuracy at the point of sale. But retailers aren't the only businesses that benefit from this technology; many companies use bar codes to keep up with computer hardware, audiovisual equipment, printed materials, and much more. No matter how or why you use bar codes, 2P Barcode Creator Enterprise is a simple way to generate and print these scannable labels.

The program's interface is plain, with well-organized menus and an uncluttered toolbar across the top. To create a … Read more

For power users and other keyboard-shortcut fanatics, Keyboard Maestro is one of those apps that--once you've used it for a couple weeks--you wonder how you ever lived without it. (And, in fact, Keyboard Maestro mimics the functionality of many other much-beloved productivity-enhancing apps, even including the Classic Finder.) Keyboard Maestro's Program Switcher and Window Switcher make cycling through and managing open applications and windows a breeze, and its Clipboard Switcher lets you work with and store an endless number of clipboards. Keyboard Maestro also supports Growl and AppleScript, with the option of automatically pasting in script results at … Read more

If you work in any kind of environment that requires the regular use of a computer, more than likely you find yourself typing the same things over and over again. Quotes, invoices, reports, letters, e-mails can all get pretty repetitive, not to mention time-consuming. If your computer tasks have you feeling like a broken record, try Perfect Keyboard Professional. This simple program allows users to record text and macros in a variety of ways, saving you the time and effort of typing the same stuff out yet again.

The program's interface is plain but well-designed and intuitive. The first … Read more

Before we get to this week's apps, a news item over at AppleInsider indicates we may be getting a change to the iPhone operating system that many have been talking about. According to one AppleInsider's more reliable sources, the iPhone OS 4.0 could add multitasking support in the next OS update. This means you'll be able to run apps simultaneously making it possible to switch between apps without closing them.

A lot of smartphones already have multitasking support, so it's been one of the bigger complaints for detractors of the iPhone. Frankly, I think it'… Read more

A Windows clipboard manager that relies on the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0., PasteCopy.NET saves dozens of text entries and images. PasteCopy.NET does offer some features not available in the competing M8 Free Clipboard, including the capability to convert RTF files to text and HTML files to either text or RTF. You can also print your list of saved items, save it as an RTF file, and create categories of saved items. Unfortunately, PasteCopy.NET has an unfinished feel. For example, rather than automatically place the copied item into the receiving document when you press paste, PasteCopy.NET … Read more