- Windows 11 has a new feature for Android mobiles in test builds
- It allows for the syncing of the PC clipboard directly to the phone
- This ability is snappy and responsive based on early testing
Windows 11 is getting a fresh ability for those who’ve linked their Android phone to their PC, namely a feature that allows for the clipboard of the desktop operating system to be synced to the mobile device.
Windows Latest discovered the functionality in a recent Windows 11 preview build (from the Dev channel), then enabled and tested it.
It works via the Link to Windows app, so you’ll need to have that set up on your smartphone, and then the feature can be turned on in Windows 11’s settings. The only other stipulation is you also need to be using the same Microsoft account on the PC and mobile.
If that’s the case, when you enable ‘Access PC’s clipboard’ in the Mobile Devices panel in the Settings app (and you’ve turned on clipboard history), whatever’s in the clipboard on your PC will be transferred to your Android clipboard.
Windows Latest observes that the feature works seamlessly and very quickly. The tech site tried copying a lump of text on their Windows 11 PC and it was “immediately” available for pasting in the Gboard keyboard on their Android phone. Accessing the clipboard is possible across any keyboard app, the site further notes, not just Gboard.
Also, note that this is just for Android smartphones, not iPhones (at least not yet anyway).
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It’s good to see this clipboard syncing capability inbound for Windows 11, assuming it makes it through testing (and I don’t see why it wouldn’t). Windows Latest tested the feature multiple times and found it worked well, and moreover it was very snappy in transferring over clipboard text.
That could be a real timesaver when you have something on your PC that you’d normally, say, email across to yourself to access on your phone. Instead, you can just highlight and copy that text on the PC, and it’ll be right there on your smartphone ready for pasting by the time you pick up the mobile.
Microsoft has been busy trying to build out the integration of smartphones with Windows 11 in the recent past, as you may have noticed. That includes ushering in a panel floating off the side of the Start menu bristling with phone-related details (and recent activity from your mobile), and the ability to lock your PC remotely with your phone, to pick out a couple of the more interesting introductions this year.
Don’t forget that another incoming feature will allow Windows 11 users to resume what they were previously doing in a supported app on their Android mobile (much like Apple’s Handoff) – and clipboard syncing marries nicely with that convenience.