Clipboard history on Ubuntu: the complete guide

Ubuntu still ships no clipboard history. Copy something, copy something else, and the first thing is gone — there is no built-in way to get it back, and there has never been one in any Ubuntu release.

This guide covers the five options that actually work, with every command run against a real Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS install rather than copied from older guides.

First, check which session you are in#

This determines which tools can work at all, so do it before installing anything:

echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE

Option 1: Clipboard History extension#

The simplest thing that works on GNOME, and the one to try first. It is a GNOME Shell extension, so it runs inside the compositor and works on Wayland without any protocol support.

Install Clipboard History from the GNOME Extensions site, or use the Extension Manager app:

sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-manager

Open Extension Manager, search "Clipboard History", install. Press Super + Shift + V to open the panel. Searchable, keyboard-driven, no daemon to configure.

Option 2: GPaste#

The most established option, and the one with a real daemon behind it rather than only a shell extension. Install both parts — the daemon and the GNOME integration:

sudo apt install gpaste-2 gnome-shell-extension-gpaste

Then log out and back in. Open GPaste Preferences from the applications menu, scroll to the GNOME Shell section, and enable both toggles — the extension does not always enable itself on install, which is the single most common reason people conclude GPaste "doesn't work."

GPaste also gives you a CLI, which is genuinely useful in scripts:

gpaste-client history
gpaste-client get 3

Option 3: Pano#

Prettier than the alternatives, with typed previews for links, colors, and code. It needs two libraries plus their introspection data, none of which are installed by default:

sudo apt install libgda-5.0-4t64 gir1.2-gda-5.0 libgsound0t64 gir1.2-gsound-1.0

Then install Pano from the GNOME Extensions site and restart the shell by logging out and back in.

Option 4: CopyQ#

The power-user option, and the only one here that is genuinely cross-platform. Tabs, scripting, an editor for stored items, and filters:

sudo apt install copyq

CopyQ is an X11-first application. Under a Wayland session it runs through XWayland and its Wayland support has known rough edges, particularly around global shortcuts. If you are on Wayland and want CopyQ specifically, expect to spend time on configuration.

Option 5: Clipmer#

Ours, so treat this section with the appropriate suspicion. Clipmer is built for people whose clipboard is full of things they would rather not display: it can mask individual entries so they render as dots during a screen share, attach notes to entries, and file them into folders.

wget https://github.com/0x99M/clipmer/releases/latest/download/clipmer_3.1.0_amd64.deb
sudo apt install ./clipmer_3.1.0_amd64.deb

Press Ctrl + Shift + D to open it. The free version keeps 100 entries.

The honest trade-off: Clipmer is source-available under PolyForm Strict, not open source, and the folders, notes, and minimal view are paid. Everything above is free software and most of it is GPL. If licensing matters to you — and on Linux it reasonably might — GPaste is the better choice and we would rather you were happy than converted.

Which one should you actually install#

If you want…	Install	Why
Something that just works	Clipboard History	One extension, no daemon, works on Wayland
The most mature option	GPaste	Real daemon, CLI, longest track record
The best-looking option	Pano	Typed previews, but two extra dependencies
Scripting and power features	CopyQ	Tabs and scripting; X11-first
To not leak secrets on a call	Clipmer	Per-entry masking, notes, folders

Setting a keyboard shortcut#

GNOME reserves Super + V for notifications, so most tools default to something else. To bind your own, open Settings → Keyboard → View and Customize Shortcuts → Custom Shortcuts, then add a command:

# GPaste
gpaste-client ui

# CopyQ
copyq toggle

Extensions like Clipboard History and Pano set their own shortcut in the extension's preferences instead, since they run inside the shell.

One thing worth knowing before you install any of these#

Whichever you choose, you are about to create a plaintext file on disk that accumulates everything you copy. That will include passwords pasted from a password manager, API keys, database URLs, and session tokens — and it will keep them long after you have forgotten they were there.

That is not an argument against clipboard managers; the productivity gain is real and worth it. It is an argument for knowing where the file lives and what is in it. Clipmer stores its history at ~/.config/clipmer/, GPaste under ~/.local/share/gpaste/. Have a look at yours sometime — it is usually more revealing than people expect.