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Clip 'n Save Data

Microsoft's ClipBook keeps often-used text and graphics handy.

Lenny Bailes

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The Clipboard in Windows 95 and 98 stores the last bit of data you copied or cut using the Edit, Copy or Edit, Cut commands in any application. Once you cut or copy something else, the Clipboard dumps the old data and replaces it with the new information. Until now, you could always see the information in the Clipboard with Windows' built-in Clipboard Viewer (click Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Clipboard Viewer to open it), but there was no way to keep text or pictures at the ready for pasting.

Microsoft's free ClipBook Viewer utility functions like the Clipboard Viewer, except it can save the contents of clipboards on different "pages," allowing you to build a library of often-used pictures or bits of text.

To set up the ClipBook, you first have to remove Windows' Clipboard Viewer (if it's installed). Click Start, Settings, Control Panel, open Add/Remove Programs, and click the Windows Setup tab. Select System Tools, then click the Details button. If there is a checkmark beside Clipboard Viewer, remove it and click OK twice.

Next, download the ClipBook program and double-click on the executable file (CLIPBK.EXE) icon. Press Y to extract the setup files, which will appear in the same folder as CLIPBK.EXE. Next, right-click the CLIPBOOK.INF file that was just extracted, and choose Install. You can now delete the extracted files, as well as CLIPBK.EXE.

Open the ClipBook Viewer (click Start, Programs, Accessories, ClipBook Viewer) to start using it. To save the current contents of the Windows Clipboard as a ClipBook page, open the Local ClipBook window (selectWindows, Clipboard), then choose Edit, Paste or press Ctrl-V. The ClipBook will prompt you for a name for each chunk of clipboard data you add to it.

To browse your saved ClipBook pages, first open the ClipBook Viewer and click the Window, Local ClipBook menu item. If you want to see an alphabetical list of your ClipBook pages, click View, Table of Contents. (If you have images in the ClipBook, it may be useful to use the View, Thumbnails menu item.) Double-click any page--in either the Table of Contents or Thumbnail view--to see its content. To paste the content of a page into an application, choose Edit, Copy from the Local ClipBook window, switch to the application you want to use, and press Ctrl-V.

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