notegirl

Paste text from your phone to your computer

Sometimes it isn't a photo. It is a link on your phone that you are about to retype by hand into a laptop, or a code on the laptop that you need on the phone. Don't retype it.

The built-in clipboards, and what each one needs

Universal Clipboard. Apple's, and it is magic when it works: copy on the iPhone, paste on the Mac. It needs both devices on the same Apple account with Handoff on, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on, and both within a few meters. Not for a Windows PC, not for someone else's device.

Phone Link's cross-device copy and paste. Microsoft's version, for an Android phone and a Windows PC that have been paired with the Link to Windows app and the same Microsoft account. Some phone brands only.

Chrome's "Send to your devices". Right-click a link, send it to a phone, as long as Chrome is signed in to the same Google account on both. Links only, your devices only.

They are all fine for your own two devices once set up. The moment the other device belongs to your employer, a library, or a friend, every one of them is out.

The one-minute way

  1. Open notegirl.com on both. Each shows three words, like lemon otter cabin.
  2. Type one code into the other. Put the other device's three words in the TO box and press Connect.
  3. Paste and send. Paste into the note box and press Send note; on a keyboard, Shift+Enter sends and Enter makes a new line. It appears on the other side with a Copy button, and any web address in it is a link you can tap.
Open Notegirl

Things that cross well

A two-factor code that arrived on the phone and is wanted on the laptop. Paste, send, copy, done, and it is gone when the tab closes.

A Wi-Fi password for a guest's laptop. Send it, let them paste it, then press Delete everything so it is off both screens.

A long address or a tracking number you would otherwise mistype.

A paragraph you wrote on the phone that belongs in a document on the computer. Long text is fine; the limit is about two hundred thousand characters, roughly a novella.

A link from the laptop to the phone. Paste it on the laptop; on the phone it is tappable as soon as it lands.

Nothing is kept

A password or a code you pass across exists only on the two screens, is never stored on a server, and vanishes when either tab closes. There is no clipboard history to clear and no account that remembers it.

Questions

Does it keep a history of what I paste?
No. Nothing is stored. Close the tab and it is gone.

Can I send a whole document as text?
Yes, long text is fine. For a file, drop the file in instead and it arrives as a file.

Does the other device need anything installed?
No. Just a browser.

Can I copy a received note on an iPhone?
Yes. Tap Copy under the note and it goes to the clipboard as plain text, spaces and all.

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