# Clip source: system clipboard

The system clipboard is the most basic and most frequently used clip source.

## In-app toggles

Under **Sources**, open **Clipboard** to manage capture sources and app filters. Wording may vary by build.

| Toggle | What it does |
|--------|----------------|
| **General → Enable Source** | Detects clipboard changes and saves them to clip history |
| **Ignore Sensitive Content** | Skips passwords and other sensitive content |
| **Ignore Temporary Content** | Skips temporary content from other apps |

If copies never reach history, confirm **Enable Source** first, then review the ignore toggles and platform limits in [Clipboard background monitoring](/features/source/background-monitoring/).

## How it works

When you do any of the following in the system:

- **Copy**
- **Cut**
- **Paste** content from another app into the system clipboard

The app **listens for clipboard changes** in the background. When new content appears, it:

1. Reads the full current clipboard payload (text, images, files, mixed content, and so on)
2. Packages it as one **clip**
3. Writes it to **clip history** for later search, sync, and reuse

In short: **each successful capture adds one row you can browse and search later in clip history.**

## Why do this?

- Avoid “I copied it but cannot get it back”
- Keep more than one item—a browsable timeline instead of a single slot
- Lay the groundwork for search, organization, and cross-device sync

If you treat the clipboard only as a **temporary handoff**, content gets lost; here it becomes a **traceable stream**.

## Privacy and security

- Clipboard content is read **on the device** as part of capture
- Whether content syncs to the cloud or other devices is controlled separately in features such as **Cloud Sync** and **Nearby Sync**
- You can turn off or pause clipboard listening in Settings, or use per-app rules and exclusion lists so sensitive scenarios are not recorded

## Next

For continuous background capture, see [Clipboard background monitoring](/features/source/background-monitoring/) and the [quick enable guide](/features/source/background-monitoring/quick-start). To find and organize history, see [Clip history overview](/features/clip-history/overview). If copies never land in history, use [First-run troubleshooting](/getting-started/first-run-troubleshooting).