How to copy and paste between PC and phone

You found a link on your laptop and need it on your phone. Or a two-factor code is on the phone and belongs in a form on the desktop. Emailing yourself works, but it is slow and it leaves a trail in your inbox. Here is the shortest path that needs no app and no cable.

The three steps

1. Open a board on the first device. Go to clipboard2.com, take the suggested name or type your own, and hit Go. You are now on a URL like clipboard2.com/myboard.
2. Paste your text. Drop it into the big text box. It is saved as you type - there is no send button.
3. Open the same URL on the second device. Type the address into the browser, and the text is already there. Select it, copy it, done.

Both directions work at once. Whatever you type on the phone shows up on the desktop in the same second, so a board is just as useful for getting a code off the phone as for getting a link onto it.

Getting the board onto the phone without typing

Typing an address on a phone keyboard is the slowest part of the whole exercise, so every board shows a QR code of its own address, next to the board name at the top. Point the phone camera at it, tap the link that pops up, and the phone is on the same board - nothing typed, nothing spelled out over the shoulder.

Two more ways, for when the screen is not in front of you:

• Use a short board name. The address is the only thing you have to type, so /x7q beats /my-very-long-board-name. Short names are easier for strangers to guess, so use them for a link, not for a password.
• Keep one personal board. Pick a name you can remember but nobody would guess, and reuse it. Its content clears itself after 1 minutes, the name stays valid.

Copying text out on a phone

On iOS and Android, tap into the text box, then tap again to get the selection handles and choose Select All followed by Copy. If the text is a URL, a long press on it usually offers to open it directly - no copying needed.

When nothing shows up

Almost every failed transfer has one of four causes:

• The board names differ. Board names are case sensitive, and a typo creates a second, empty board rather than an error. Compare the URL on both devices character by character.
• The board has cleared itself. After 1 minutes of a board's life, text and files are wiped. The countdown next to the board name tells you how long is left.
• The network blocks live updates. Some company networks and VPNs cut the line that carries them. The content is still saved - reload the page and it is there.
• Someone typed over it. The last write wins. If two people work on one board, the second one overwrites the first.

How it compares

• Emailing yourself - works everywhere, but it is slow, and the content stays in two mailboxes forever.
• Messenger apps - fast if both devices are logged into the same account, which is exactly what fails on a borrowed or work machine.
• AirDrop and Nearby Share - excellent between devices of the same ecosystem in the same room, useless between an iPhone and a Windows desktop, or across a continent.
• An online clipboard - nothing to install and nothing to log into, works between any two browsers anywhere, at the price of putting the content on a server for a short while.

What not to paste

The server has to see the content in order to send it to the other device, and anyone who knows or guesses the board name can read it while it is there. The connection is encrypted and boards clear themselves quickly, but that is short-lived storage, not secrecy. Passwords, keys and documents you would not send to a stranger belong in a password manager, not on a board. More on the lifetime rules in how it works.

Open a board