Is XClipper An Effective Clipboard Manager for Android?

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Executive Summary

It is hard to find a good clipboard manager for Android.
This article covers XClipper.

Introduction

One of the most important applications I use for the Mac is called Copy’Em. Copy’Em provides a running list of things I have previously copied. This allows me to copy many items but without switching applications. Once I have copied what I want, I move to write and paste multiple items.

Clipboard managers are a critical productivity tool that is vastly under-rated. Even thought I have extensively used Copy’Em for years, I never looked for a clipboard manager for my phone.

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About XClipper

As I write this, XClipper is still in beta. However, it worked well for me. I also liked the UI quite a bit. Most clipboard managers have a very bland UI, and I liked the color scheme and fonts used by XClipper. The Typewriter font used by the application fits, as this is a text management application.

Recording the Copies

One of the things I liked best was a weakness in other clipboard managers I tried. Many of the managers I tested had a problem skipping over things I copied. I also like the feedback of the notification along the top when I copy. I tried XClipper on two phones, and I found that the notification appears on one phone but not the other. I went into the settings but could not see a setting for “make the notification appear” or a similar description. And I did not configure anything to make it do this. And this feedback is one of the best features of XClipper.

Integration to the PC

As I am a Mac and Linux user, I could not test this feature, but there is a download of XClipper on the website for PC. I would look forward to seeing it when and if it gets to the Mac.

Reading Moving to Phones

People are increasingly reading on their phones — as it is a stellar way to pass the time waiting while commuting, in doctor’s offices, etc. And Kindle is a very elegant application at this point. With just a thumb movement, I can scroll with very low effort. On the other hand, Web pages are still a bit of a problem as they size differently, something that Kindle has standardized. For this reason, I tend to use the phone less for the web than for book reading. With the refinement of Kindle, I now read much more on the Kindle version for Android than I do on Kindle for my computer. Using a computer just to read is a bit of a waste — and I find the scrolling and usability of Kindle on Android preferable to using my computer. And you can copy from Kindle on the Android, while you can’t from a computer.

I have a bunch of books in Kindle for whenever I have some time to pass, or even at the park so I can be outside while reading. This was very useful on a trip to Mexico, where I faced a great deal of waiting, but I did not mind as I was getting reading accomplished.

All of this creates a bigger need for a clipboard manager for Android. And there are uses for a clipboard manager that I am not even mentioning, and I am only describing what I use my phone for that drives the need for a clipboard manager.

Problems With the Export

The export from XClipper is a JSON file. This is an example of what the export looks like.

{“clipTagDao”:”[{\”id\”:1,\”name\”:\”phone\”},{\”id\”:2,\”name\”:\”date\”},{\”id\”:3,\”name\”:\”url\”},{\”id\”:4,\”name\”:\”email\”},{\”id\”:5,\”name\”:\”map\”},{\”id\”:6,\”name\”:\”sample tag\”}]”,”clipUrlDao”:”[]”,”clipDefineDao”:”[]”,”clipDataDao”:”[{\”data\”:\”Unfortunately, these hopes are unfounded. Breast milk will not resolve all of the deeply rooted social and structural problems American parents face in trying to raise healthy and secure children. It is no substitute for good and affordable day care close to work or home. It is no substitute for maternity leave. And it is no substitute for accessible and affordable health care.

Because of the extra characters, it means I have to put effort into removing these characters to use the file. I don’t see why JSON is used and why a simple txt file isn’t preferable.

I would like to see the export being as a .txt file.

My Rating

And I very much like XClipper. I experimented with some clipboard managers for PC and did not find much that I liked. This means that XClipper has a potential market to go after beyond synchronizing clips from the phone, but for those who use PCs to use XClipper as their clipboard manager for their computer. A clipboard manager synchronizes between the computer, and the phone is valuable.

Conclusion

XClipper is an application that many people need but are not aware that they need. It took me having large amounts of text I needed to copy, and which I could only copy from the Android version of Kindle before I decided to go looking for a clipboard manager for Android. In truth, I needed one a long time ago but never got around to searching for one.

The fact that XClipper is a beta and can get even better is great news. If XClipper can be ported to the Mac, I will be even more enthusiastic.