Forgive my unabashed nerdery, however for years now, I’ve had a cross-platform productiveness dream.Unlike these beneath the tightly managed Apple iSpell, y’see, I do not consider in limiting myself to anybody specific platform or sort of product. Sure, I exploit Android across the clock. But I additionally use a Windows laptop throughout the work day. And I depend on ChromeOS within the evenings. You get the concept.That form of setup is spectacular in relation to range and having the ability to use no matter units work greatest for you, regardless of who made ’em or what kind of software program they’re operating. But typically, it could additionally create its personal share of awkward challenges.That brings us again to my dream. For years, I’ve been working to discover a swift ‘n’ easy approach to share textual content copied from my telephone to a pc the place I’m working — and vice-versa. ‘Twas a time when Chrome quietly allowed this form of seamless clipboard syncing to occur in all instructions, however alas, Google pulled that chance away earlier than it ever made its method out of the shadows.More lately, a superb little off-the-beaten app by OnePlus crammed the void and briefly turned my dream right into a equally easy actuality. But then, earlier this yr, OnePlus unceremoniously shut the app down.[Catch creative practical knowledge in your inbox with my Android Intelligence newsletter. Tips, tools, and other tasty treats await!] Today, I’m comfortable to report that the dream is again alive and kickin’. Turns out sooner or later within the not-too-distant previous, Google snuck a brand new function into its cross-platform Nearby Share system that makes it not solely doable but additionally fully painless to ship copied textual content out of your Android gadget to a related laptop’s clipboard and, in at the very least in some situations, again within the different path, too.It’s not a function that is prominently promoted or that you simply’d ever notice exists for those who did not go poking round and exploring. It’s fully unmarked and sometimes even invisible, the truth is — but it surely’s there, all proper. And for those who share my cross-platform productiveness dream, it is perhaps simply the time-saving superpower you did not know you wanted. The Android-to-desktop Nearby Share secretNearby Share, for those who aren’t acquainted, is an Android function that allows you to ship stuff wirelessly to different units the place you are additionally signed in. It works between a number of Android units, most clearly, but it surely additionally allows you to share issues between your Android telephone and a Chromebook or perhaps a Windows laptop.And whereas the system is primarily designed for passing recordsdata between units, it has a spectacular choice for sharing textual content, too.The first a part of the method will work with any Windows laptop or Chromebook the place Nearby Share is obtainable. The function is already constructed into ChromeOS, so there’s nothing you should do to arrange it up there. With Windows, you may must seize the official, Google-made Nearby Share app for Windows, then open it and comply with the steps to put in it and sign up first.Then:
On your Android telephone, search your system settings for the phrase Nearby Share.
Tap the “Nearby Share” line that pops up within the outcomes, and be sure to have the toggle subsequent to “Device Visibility” within the lively and on place.
On each Android and your laptop, take 20 seconds to seek out and configure the setting for a way Nearby Share will work.
On Android, you may faucet the precise phrases “Device visibility” inside that very same settings display we have been simply viewing.
On Windows, you may click on the gear-shaped icon within the Nearby Share app’s upper-right nook after which choose “Device visibility.”
And on a Chromebook, you may click on the clock within the lower-right nook of the display, click on the “Nearby Share” tile, after which click on “Device visibility” within the settings display that comes up.
Unless you anticipate to be doing any form of broader sharing with units that are not your personal, I’d counsel choosing “Your devices” in all of these locations. That’ll make it in order that solely units which can be signed into your similar major Google account can faucet into the system (and since they’re all your personal units, no extra approval or affirmation steps will probably be required). JR
You can arrange Nearby Share in order that it permits connections solely between your personal units.
Got it? Good. Now let’s uncover the clipboard sharing magic baked into this tasty cross-platform pie.Sharing your clipboard from Android to Windows or ChromeOSThe Android-to-any-computer half is the best and most broadly obtainable:
On your Android telephone, merely spotlight textual content in any app after which choose “Share” from the choices that seem alongside it.
Find and faucet “Nearby Share” within the checklist of sharing targets that exhibits up subsequent.
And then choose your laptop from the checklist of Nearby Share units.
JR
Just a few fast faucets, and growth: Text copied to your clipboard on Android will probably be obtainable in Windows.
You ought to see a notification in your laptop a second later that’ll allow you to entry the textual content and paste it anyplace you need. That half is useful. But it is the following a part of this course of that actually blew my thoughts, ‘trigger there’s completely no indication anyplace that it is obtainable or in any method doable.Sharing your clipboard from Windows to AndroidEarlier than we transfer on, one fast caveat: Curiously, this chance appears to be restricted solely to computer systems operating Windows in the meanwhile. You’d assume it’d even be obtainable on Chromebooks, since they boast native Nearby Share help. But so far as I can inform, no such chance exists in that atmosphere or anyplace else exterior of the Android-Windows world. Hopefully that’ll change and this method will broaden quickly.For now, although, for the Windows customers amongst us, copy some textual content from anyplace in your Windows laptop, then:
Open up the Nearby Share Windows app we put in a second in the past.
Hit Ctrl-V to stick the textual content into it.
Nearby Share ought to then pull up your checklist of related units — together with, specifically, your telephone.
And all that is left is to click on your telephone’s title to complete the sharing.
JR
Simple clipboard sharing from Windows to Android — who knew?!
And hey, how ’bout that: JR
Text despatched from a Windows laptop, obtainable on Android — what a world.
Kind of bizarre that Google does not promote this or present any indication throughout the apps that it is doable, is not it?!But now you already know — and now you may make the cross-platform productiveness dream a actuality…once more.Want much more helpful mobile-tech information? Check out my free Android Intelligence publication to get three new issues to attempt in your inbox each Friday.
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