Show HN: A new, improved, and open-source clipboard history Chrome extension

[andyluyoung]

https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/clipboard-history-pro-sec/ombhfdknibjljckajldielimdjcomcek

Hey all!

I recently built a new, improved, and open-source chrome extension that allows you to access, track, and manage your clipboard's history! It's very useful for things like refactoring code, finding obscure commands, and backing up form data.

Existing solutions are either closed-source, slow, riddled with ads, or all of the above. My goal is to make this extension the most trustworthy, performant, and easy to use version! Your feedback would be very much appreciated, thanks!

Extension: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/clipboard-history-p...

Repo: https://github.com/ayoung19/clipboard-history

[pseudo_meta]

Looks nice, residuals the merging is something I haven't seen in other clipboard managers.

I think my main question is why I should use a browser-scoped clipboard manager over a global, system wide clipboard manager (that allows me to filter by application).

[andyluyoung → pseudo_meta]

Thanks!

And you raise a good question. So just to make sure we're on the same page, even though the extension is browser-scoped it still has access to the system's clipboard across other apps so things you copy in VSCode will show up in the history. It just doesn't know that you copied it from VSCode specifically so yes you can't filter by application like you say.

So with that drawback in mind, I believe the advantage is that it's less intrusive and cross platform by default. Whether it's simpler needs, app fatigue, or work restrictions, some people just don't need a whole app for this one feature (especially when those apps usually come with a whole suite of other productivity tools, requiring more permissions and resources).

This is all just based on my own experience as a user of an existing popular extension though (https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/clipboard-history-p...). I can't speak for all other 100k active users but my guess is that what I described above is approximately the reason for its popularity.

[KetoManx64 → andyluyoung]

100K people that don't know that clipboard managers exist as a system application/and or are limited on what they can install at work.. But are also probably sharing all their clipboard history with the addon creator. :facepalm:

[andyluyoung → KetoManx64]

Yeah the goal of my extension is it's open-source and people have the choice to build/install the extension themselves.

Also you're being a little close-minded about the 100k users, people are simply different and have different needs. I for example know these productivity suites exist but choose not to install them because I don't need the other features and have also had bad experiences with apps ruining my system state.