Last Updated 19/Jan/2009
Vista's ClipBoard Manager Gadget - Update
Don Bradbury looks at the latest version of this useful text and graphics clip cache
When we first looked at Jan Zeman's Clipboard Manager some months ago we took an immediate shine to it. It wasn't perfect, but far better than Windows' own provisions.
Now, in version 2.1.1.1, this Vista Gadget has been transformed. While still copying and pasting clips with Ctrl/C and Ctrl/V as usual, there are enhancements that put it alongside the better know, full blown apps that many have become used to using, such as ClipMate.
You can customise the maximum number of items that can be held in the history cache but over a wide range of settings so as to more easily manage the clip history that you intend to accumulate. The font size can be changed as before, and also the number of characters in each clip in order to maximise the number of prompt lines for each item, and the backdrop design can be customised from a large selection.
You can now store multiple graphic clips in the history cache, and also juggle with timestamps, or filter your history to bring to the fore just the items that are referenced by whatever you type into the filter box. You can use 'img', 'bmp', 'jpg', 'picture', 'image', or any similar string, to filter images on the flyout window. Very useful!
You can click on the Time header several times and then select the style of date and time stamp popped into the history cache that you'd like to use, such as:
06/01/2009 15:04:51
Current date: 06.01.2009
// My Name, 06.01.2009 15:04 >>>
Favorites
Usefully, you can now add clips to a favourites list so that they are not deleted when you decide to clear the clips buffer. You can opt for a privacy mode, or even arrange to clear the clip history cache at shutdown, for security reasons perhaps.
Favorites (sic) will be found a must by those who regularly use standard phrases of text, and especially longish ones, as it saves much retyping. Having specific graphics in your favourites list will also be found very useful by some.
You can search both the main and favourites clip buffers by typing a non-case sensitive search pattern into a search filter box, and there's also an 'additional tool' creator, with one example called Search GUID; for this the author says: "There is currently only one additional tool available. It is called 'Create GUID' and is targeted for developers. Please ignore it if you do not know what GUID is". For those with an interest, that tool could also be worth investigating.
In conclusion
We have come to value having Jan Zeman's Clipboard Manager on our Vista PC, and these recent upgrades from the author are all welcome. Give the latest release a try; we think you'll like it.
