QPaste

Copy continuously. Paste sequentially.

A clipboard queue for Windows. Copy several things in a row, then paste them back in the same order, without switching windows for every item.

Download  ·  What's New  ·  Report a Bug  ·  Support

qpaste-v1.2.0.mp4

Free  ·  No account  ·  Works offline  ·  Open source

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Why QPaste

The Windows clipboard holds one item at a time. Filling in a form from a chat, an email and a spreadsheet means copying one value, switching to the form, pasting, switching back, and doing it all again for every field.

QPaste adds a first-in, first-out queue on top of the clipboard. Turn on Queue Mode, copy everything you need in one pass, then paste it all in one pass. Each Ctrl+V pastes the oldest item still in the queue.

How It Works

1. Press F4 to turn on Queue Mode. A small toast confirms QPaste : ON.
2. Copy as usual with Ctrl+C, from any app. Each copy joins the back of the queue, and a counter shows how many items are waiting.
3. Paste in order with Ctrl+V. Items come out in the order you copied them, and the counter rolls down as you go.

When the queue is empty, or Queue Mode is off, Ctrl+V behaves exactly like normal Windows paste. QPaste lives in the system tray and never takes focus away from the window you are working in.

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What's New in v1.2.0

Works on any keyboard layout

Queue paste and custom hotkeys now match keys by their physical position, not by the character they type. They work the same on Russian, French (AZERTY), German (QWERTZ) and other non-US layouts. Settings also warns you when a Ctrl+Alt combo could clash with AltGr typing on layouts such as German or Polish.

Assign any key combo

Click Record next to a shortcut in Settings and press the keys you want. The combo shows up as key caps while you press it, and it is saved only once it is complete and valid. Reserved combos (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, Alt+F4, Alt+Tab, ...), duplicates and bare letters are rejected with a clear message. The new shortcut works immediately, with no restart.

Animated queue counter

The count toast now rolls up as you copy and down as you paste, so you always know how many items are left.

Quick Notepad improvements

Resize the notepad from its corner grip, zoom the text with Ctrl + + / - / 0 or Ctrl + mouse wheel, and enjoy a scrollbar that matches the dark theme. Size and zoom are remembered between sessions.

Earlier releases

v1.1.0

• Customizable hotkeys: remap F4, Shift+F4 and F3 from the Settings tab. Changes apply live.
• Quick Notepad (F3): a frameless, dark scratchpad that floats over any window. It saves on every keystroke, persists across reboots and closes with Esc.
• Office copy debounce: a 200 ms filter removes duplicate items when copying formatted text in Word and Excel.
• Activity-based auto-clear: the queue only expires after real inactivity, never while you are copying or pasting.
• Settings tab: hotkeys, auto-clear options and a one-click reset to defaults.

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Features

Feature	Details
Sequential queue	Thread-safe FIFO queue that holds up to 25 copied items
Count toast	A small overlay shows the queue status and count without stealing focus
Quick Notepad	Floating scratchpad on F3, with zoom, resize and auto-save
Queue Inspector	Review queued items, delete one, or clear them all
Custom shortcuts	Record your own key combos for every action
Any keyboard layout	Works the same on non-US layouts
Auto-clear	Optionally empty the queue after a period of inactivity
Start with Windows	Optional silent start on boot
Single instance	A named mutex prevents duplicate copies from fighting over hotkeys
Clipboard lock handling	Automatic retries when another app is holding the clipboard
Private by design	Everything runs locally. No account, no network access

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action	Customizable
F4	Turn Queue Mode on or off	Yes
Shift + F4	Clear the queue	Yes
F3	Show or hide the Quick Notepad	Yes
Ctrl + C	Copy (added to the queue while Queue Mode is on)	No
Ctrl + V	Paste the next queued item (normal paste when the queue is empty)	No

To change a shortcut, open the Queue Inspector from the tray icon, go to Settings, click Record on a row and press your combo. Esc cancels, the reset button restores that row, and Reset Defaults restores them all.

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Installation

Download from the latest release:

• QPaste_Setup_v1.2.0.exe (recommended): installs to %LocalAppData%\Programs\QPaste with Start Menu shortcuts, an optional start-with-Windows setting and an uninstaller.
• QPaste.exe: a portable single executable. No installation needed.

Requires Windows 10 or 11.

Building from Source

Prerequisites: Python 3.11+, Windows 10/11, plus PyInstaller and Inno Setup 6 if you want to build the executable and installer.

git clone https://github.com/chinthanasathyajithcs/qpaste.git
cd qpaste

python -m venv src\.venv
.\src\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
pip install -r src\requirements.txt

# Run the app
python src\main.py

# Run the test suite
python -m pytest

# Portable executable -> dist\QPaste.exe
python -m PyInstaller qpaste.spec

# Installer -> installer\Output\QPaste_Setup_v1.2.0.exe
ISCC.exe installer\qpaste_setup.iss

Project Structure

qpaste/
├── assets/                  App icon and demo media
├── docs/                    Product requirements
├── installer/               Inno Setup script
├── src/
│   ├── core/
│   │   ├── clipboard_queue.py   Thread-safe FIFO queue with idle tracking
│   │   ├── config.py            Persistent JSON settings
│   │   ├── hotkey_parser.py     Hotkey parsing and layout-independent matching
│   │   ├── hotkey_rules.py      Hotkey validation (reserved, duplicate and AltGr rules)
│   │   ├── listener.py          Keyboard hooks, debounce and clipboard listener
│   │   ├── single_instance.py   Win32 named mutex
│   │   ├── startup.py           Start-with-Windows registry entry
│   │   └── state.py             Queue Mode state
│   ├── ui/
│   │   ├── dark_scrollbar.py    Scrollbar that matches the dark theme
│   │   ├── hotkey_recorder.py   Press-to-record shortcut field
│   │   ├── inspector.py         Queue Inspector window
│   │   ├── notepad.py           Quick Notepad overlay
│   │   ├── settings_tab.py      Hotkey and auto-clear settings
│   │   └── toast.py             Focus-free toast overlay
│   ├── tests/                   336 unit and integration tests
│   └── main.py                  Entry point and tray icon
└── qpaste.spec              PyInstaller build spec

Contributing

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome. Issues labelled good first issue are a good place to start. If you use a non-US keyboard layout, reports on how QPaste behaves with it are especially helpful.

Support

QPaste is free and always will be. If it saves you time, you can buy me a coffee on Ko-fi.

License

MIT © 2026 ChinthanaSathyajith

_{If QPaste saves you some tab-switching, consider giving it a star.}