SwiftKey for Android gets Cloud Clipboard support in beta

Microsoft SwiftKey’s beta app has been given the ability to store and sync copied text with other devices via Cloud Clipboard. That allows copying and pasting between Android devices and Windows PCs.

Cloud Clipboard has been around for Windows 10 for some time, and can be enabled in the clipboard settings by choosing to sync between Windows 10 devices. SwiftKey’s beta also makes it possible to sync copied text to an Android device.

Users must install version 7.8.5.3 of the SwiftKey beta app, which functions separately from the regular SwiftKey app, which also already allows you to save copied text for later use. Users must be signed in with their Microsoft account in the app and in Windows to use the feature.

Samsung already had a similar feature that allowed users to link their clipboard history to Windows, but the SwiftKey beta is currently the only way to sync clipboard contents directly with Windows on other Android devices. There are several third-party apps that claim to have this feature, but they are not affiliated with Microsoft. The feature is not yet included in SwiftKey’s iOS app, and there is no beta app for iOS.

Cloud Clipboard remembers the saved text for an hour and the last copied text is shown in the text bar in the SwiftKey app as a suggestion. The copied clipboard text is encrypted and will not be associated with a user’s Microsoft account, Windows Latest writes. It is also possible in the beta of SwiftKey to disable the feature and not to save copied text in the clipboard history.

In 2016, Microsoft acquired keyboard application SwiftKey, which uses artificial intelligence to learn from users’ typing behavior to provide better word predictions than regular keyboard apps. Microsoft said at the time of the acquisition that it would continue to develop the app. SwiftKey was added in 2018 as a virtual keyboard in a test build of Windows 10, but that feature was not carried over to the user version of Windows.