Every time a bit of text or an image is copied or cut and pasted, be it to another part of the same document or into a different program entirely, it temporarily disappears into the Windows Clipboard. It's an efficient system, reliable and easy to use, with only one obvious drawback - it's only possible to keep one thing in the Clipboard at a time. Recent versions of Microsoft Office have included a clipboard function that's able to store multiple items, but for those who don't use Office, or want to use other programs alongside it, that's not much use. Enter Yankee Clipper, a free program that's able to store hundreds of different items in its clipboard, either temporarily or permanently, so they can be re-used repeatedly.

STEP 1
TO GETTHE FREE version of Yankee Clipper, launch your web browser and direct it to When the page appears.c1ick the Products link at the top and then click the link for YC3,which is the free version of Yankee C1ipper.Now click the Download button in the lefthand menu.This leads to a little form that asks for a valid email address¬fill in the details,c1ick the Submit button and then click the'Thanks. Click hereto download' link .

STEP 2
IF WINDOWS POPS UP any security warnings ignore them. Now click Save and choose where to store the downloaded file the Windows Desktop's a good choice because it'll be easy to find. When Yankee Clipper has downloaded, navigate to the Desktop, double-click the icon, ignore the Windows security warning (again) and follow the instructions to install the product.When it's done, click the Finish button then right-click on the new icon that appears in the Notification Area and choose Show from the pOP,-up menu.

STEP 3
THE BEAUTY OF YANKEE Clipper is that it starts working straight away. So, text and pictures that you copy or cut will find their way into its History collection from where they can be viewed and used again as necessary. Copy and paste a few items and then click Start followed by Run and type in 'clipbrd' and click OK to open Windows' own Clipboard Viewer tool-then put it side by side with Yankee C1ipper.Vista users will not have access to the Clipboard Viewer utility. The ordinary Clipboard keeps only the last thing that was cut or copied, while Yankee Clipper will keep up to 20 pictures and 200 text clips.

STEP 4
BY DEFAULT, YANKEE CLIPPER puts everything in its History collection but as we've mentioned, this has storage limits and when they're reached, it will dump the oldest items in favour of the newest. Should it be necessary to hang onto things for longer, use the Boilerplates facility. Click on an item with the right mouse button and choose' Send to boilerplate'from the pop-up menu.To access items stored in the Boilerplate,just click the button at the bottom of the left hand window above the yellow box.

STEP 5
IF A SINGLE BOILERPLATE isn't enough,create more by opening the default one and then right-clicking on one of the categories in the left hand window (for example Text or Pictures) and choosing New Boilerplate and giving it a name. After that, switch between Boilerplate collections by right-clicking on one ofthe categories in the left window and choosing 'Switch boilerplate collection' and then picking the appropriate one. It's not fantastically elegant, but it works.

STEP 6
THERE'S NO PASTE FUNCTION in Yankee Clipper. Instead, items are 'shot' from the collections into other programs. For example, to copy a picture from Yankee Clipper into Word, launch Word, position the text entry caret at the insert point and switch back to Yankee Clipper. Find the picture, right-click on it and then choose Shoot from the pop-up menu. Flip back to Word and the picture will appear as if pasted. If Yankee Clipper refuses to accept new items, click Edit and then Configuration. Click the Advanced button and select'Periodically reattach to clipboard: