ClipChain Copies Multiple Text Strings for Easy Pasting

Windows only: ClipChain allows you to copy many strings of text from different places in one document or from multiple applications to form a text chain which can be pasted where you need it to go.

ClipChain Clipboard Text Builder

Version: 0.1
Released: August 14, 2009
Creator: Dustin Luck

License: ClipChain is licensed under the GNU Public License. If you'd like to take a look at, download, or improve the source code, head over to GitHub.

What it does: Copies multiple text strings, with an optional separator, to be pasted as one longer string.

How It Works

It can get frustrating bouncing back and forth between windows to copy multiple pieces of text to get them all together in one place. ClipChain steps up to solve that problem (and does it by repurposing the loathed Caps Lock key). ClipChain is a portable application, no install necessary. Just click the download link above, copy the file to your hard drive (or USB drive), and launch it.

To get started making a chain, choose a separator character by pressing the Caps Lock key in combination with any of the following keys:

• comma
• dash
• pipe
• slash
• tab
• space
• carriage return

There is no separator character by default, so if you don't choose one, all your text will be runtogetherlikethis when it's copied. The separator can be changed as often as you'd like while building the text chain—Caps Lock+Esc resets the separator to the default (nothing).

Once you've chosen your separator, use the Caps Lock+C shortcut to copy the currently selected text and Caps Lock+V to paste the current chain—as unformatted text. Once the chain has been pasted using Caps Lock+V, the chain is moved to the clipboard and reset. To paste the chain again, use the standard Ctrl+V shortcut. The chain can also be reset at any time by pressing Caps Lock+Backspace.

ClipChain is freeware, Windows only, and works wherever Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V do. Let's hear what you think of it in the comments. If you've got a bug to submit or a feature request, submit those via GitHub so they don't get lost.