Smart Clipboard History Manager

Save and manage your clipboard history with one click. Fast, simple, and privacy-friendly.

Smart Clipboard History Manager Overview Smart Clipboard History Manager is a small utility with Ai search that keeps a short history of what I copy, so I can quickly reuse recent text and images. It also offers an optional OCR feature that lets me draw a rectangle on the screen, extract the text inside that area, and store it in the same history. The goal is convenience: instead of losing something as soon as I copy a new item, I have an easy way to go back to recent clipboard entries and bring them back with a single click. How the extension works 1. Clipboard history for text - When I copy or cut text on any normal web page, the extension detects that action and saves the copied text into a local history list. - The history is limited to a reasonable number of items and automatically removes duplicates, so it does not grow indefinitely. - Each individual text item is automatically trimmed to roughly the first 2,000 words so extremely long copies do not bloat the history or slow down the popup. - From the extension popup, I can: - See my recent text snippets. - Click any item to copy it back to the clipboard. - Pin important items so they stay at the top. - Search within my saved items and apply simple filters (for example, show only pinned items or only OCR selections). 2. Clipboard history for images - When I copy or paste images, the extension can store those images in a separate image history. - In the popup, I can: - See small thumbnails of saved images. - Copy an image back to the clipboard. - Open an image in a separate window for a larger view. - Pin or delete individual images. 3. OCR from a selected area - From the popup, I can start an OCR action on the current tab. - The page is dimmed and I can drag a rectangle over the area I want to capture. - Only that selected region is turned into an image and sent to an OCR service (ocr.space) to recognize the text. - The recognized text is saved into my local clipboard history, marked as coming from a selection, and I can use it like any other item. Typical usage flow - I browse as usual and copy or cut text and images. The extension quietly builds a short history of what I copied. - When I need something I used a moment ago, I open the popup, browse or search the history, and bring that item back to the clipboard with one click. - If I want to capture text that is part of an image or not selectable (for example, part of a screenshot), I start the OCR feature, draw a rectangle, and the extracted text appears in my history. Data handling and privacy - All clipboard history (text and images), along with simple metadata like time saved, whether an item is pinned, and how it was created (normal copy vs. OCR selection), is stored only in chrome.storage.local on my own device. - The extension does not send clipboard history or browsing data to any server controlled by the developer. - There is no analytics, tracking, advertising, or user profiling. - For OCR, the only external request that contains user content is sent to the OCR provider at https://api.ocr.space/. The request includes only the cropped screenshot region that I selected and the parameters needed for OCR. The response text is then stored locally in my history. - If I never use the OCR feature, no clipboard content is sent to that service. Permissions and why they are needed 1) storage - Used to store the clipboard history for text ("history") and images ("history_images"), as well as a few small interface preferences (for example, preview font size). - Without this permission, the extension would not be able to remember previously copied items between sessions. 2) clipboardRead - Used to read the current clipboard contents in a few situations: - When I open the popup or press the "Save from clipboard" button, the extension reads whatever is currently on the clipboard and saves it. - In direct response to copy or cut actions on a page, the extension may read the clipboard to make sure it captures what I just copied, especially on pages that use custom copy behavior. - This permission is essential for the main purpose of the extension, which is to build a history of my clipboard content. 3) clipboardWrite - Used to write selected history entries back to the clipboard when I click them in the popup or when I use the copy-from-preview button. - Also used to write images back into the clipboard when I choose an image from the image history. - This is necessary so I can actually reuse saved content from the history by putting it back into the system clipboard. 4) windows - Used to open additional popup windows for a better user experience: - Viewing saved images in a larger, dedicated window. - Opening the built-in help/guide page in a separate window. - This makes it easier to work with images and instructions without being limited to the small popup area. 5) tabs - Used to identify the currently active tab when I start OCR from the popup. - Also required to capture the visible content of that tab (using chrome.tabs.captureVisibleTab) so the extension can take a screenshot of the area I selected and send it to the OCR service. - Without this permission, the OCR feature, which relies on capturing the visible tab, would not work. 6) activeTab - Provides temporary access to the active tab when I explicitly use the extension (for example, clicking the extension icon or starting OCR). - This permission works in conjunction with the content script to ensure the extension only accesses tabs when I actively use it. - Helps limit access scope while still allowing the extension to function on any website I visit. 7) Host permissions: https://api.ocr.space/* - Required to send the selected screenshot region to the OCR provider and receive the recognized text. - No other external hosts are contacted for user content. Why content scripts run on all URLs (<all_urls>) The extension uses content scripts that run on all websites for two essential features: 1. Auto-save clipboard history: The extension must listen for copy/cut events on ANY webpage I visit to automatically save my clipboard content. This is the core functionality - without access to all pages, the extension would only work on a limited set of sites, making it much less useful. 2. OCR selection overlay: When I use the OCR feature, the selection overlay must work on ANY page I'm viewing, not just specific sites. This allows me to extract text from images or non-selectable content on any website. The content script does NOT: - Collect browsing history or visited URLs - Send any page content to external servers (except the user-selected OCR region) - Track my activity or behavior - Inject advertising or tracking code All clipboard data is stored locally on my device only. The content script's only purpose is to detect copy/cut events and provide the OCR selection interface when I explicitly request it. Summary Smart Clipboard History Manager is a clipboard utility that focuses on local history and user control. It saves what I copy into a small, manageable history, lets me reuse those items easily, and adds an optional OCR feature for text that cannot be selected. All data is kept locally except when I specifically use OCR, in which case only the user-selected screenshot region is sent to the OCR service for text recognition.