[Shardz]

App: Clipper Plus with Sync v2.4.13
Developer: rojekti
Category: Productivity
Price: $1.99
IAP: N/A

Clipper Plus with Sync is a convenient multi-purpose utility that greatly expands the functionality of Android's stock clipboard; converting it into a global data management system. As the clipboard buffer can only hold one copied clipping at a time, it can be tedious work switching between apps and devices to copy and paste multiple segments of text, one selection at a time. Clipper Plus automatically saves everything you copy in serial fashion and organizes the clips within customized lists, which you can later access on all your devices; even the PC via ClipperSync.com. You can then quickly copy, paste, view, edit and share this organized content globally as if you had a personal secretary on your payroll. Enhancing productivity even further, the individual clips have titles for easy identification, and a simple tap to the clip element is all that is required to copy it straight to the buffer; also, generating a toast confirmation notice. As the clip is copied, a convenient icon is displayed on the clip element that signifies it is currently loaded in memory; an essential little feature that presents a visual graphic to mark your place. Copying large lists of clips to a target app, this handy icon will ensure that a clip isn't inadvertently copied twice. Testing Clipper Plus by copying a list of 156 clips serially over to a target app on multiple devices, I never once duplicated a clip in the process; thus, aiding my productivity exponentially. Executing this task in the typical manual fashion would have taken at least three times longer with added frustration of having to redundantly select, copy and paste each section individually. The streamlined functionality of Clipper Plus makes mass data entry tasks much less daunting and minimizes hiccups in the work pipeline.

As you copy selected text on a device, Clipper Plus can save the clip to a generic list within the app called "Clipboard", or one of your customized lists, with a detailed time stamp that sorts the clips in chronological order. The clips are then immediately available in this selected location on all devices that have Clipper Plus installed, including the cloud that is accessible from the PC. Several thoughtful options are included within the settings page to control the amount of clips to save, how notifications appear, timed notification clearing and resident status bar icon for easy access. Notifications can appear per clipping, grouped or turned off completely; all being dynamically linked to your clips in a single click. This enables you to fully customize how Clipper Plus behaves, given the task at hand, and also fully addresses notification spam, as well. This process is seamless, fast and efficient, which allows for rapid bulk copying or everyday leisurely operation. The notifications themselves can optionally display additional basic clip management functions such as copy pause, clear and clear and delete; allowing you a degree of control without the need of being within the app itself. By disabling one single check box in settings entitled "Log new clippings", the app will ignore the clipboard and any future copy commands issued. Even though the memory footprint of Clipper Plus was only less than two megabytes in my tests, I was able to clear it from memory completely by disabling all notification options; effectively shutting it down until needed again. This method of on-demand usage is a very positive aspect for older devices with limited memory space and resources.

Within the app, you may create unlimited custom folders and easily move and distribute the clips to sort and organize them according to your needs and work flow. Folders can be dragged up or down to desired sort order, renamed or deleted; empty or even full, effectively creating a virtual recycle bin. There also exists a search function with a filter to quickly access any clips within your folders and collections, which alleviates endless foraging for data. Nearly everything can be edited directly within the app, including previously saved clips, which can also be merged together to form larger clips. Additional functionality exists to create clips directly within any list in Clipper Plus; inherently turning the app into a dynamic cloud text editor with full sharing capability. As you view any clips that include a direct URL, they are hyperlinked and can launch the web browser with a single click, which is ideal for referencing source material and linking to online images. Additional functionality to optionally display images within clips via URL would be fantastic, and perhaps a future update might address this aspect; however, that is a minor nitpick barely worth mentioning. Managing data and organizing clips within Clipper Plus is a relatively quick and painless process, though larger amounts of data can be time consuming nonetheless. Given this facet, the thoughtful developer has included both Material Light and Material Dark options for the user interface, which is ideal for both day and night usage. As I engage my tablet mostly at night in a dimmed atmosphere, I cannot emphasize my endless appreciation enough in saving my eyes from a blinding white screen. All other developers should take note of this simple option and implement this in their application right after reading this review. Much to my chagrin, nothing can spoil a decent app faster than causing retina burn after five minutes of normal usage.

As all amazing and innovative apps inherently yield, there are some baffling quirks to Clipper Plus that led to this belated review through endless unfruitful attempts of understanding. Within the Clipper Plus app that resides on the devices, there is no apparent way to reorder clips by way of dragging them such as their relative folders. This functionality is only available through the PC web browser, not the device web browser, to reorder these clips within a list. Apparently, either the time stamps or the name of the clips dictate the order in which they display by default. This could be the fault of my devices or a result of some glaring oversight; I am still undecided. In complete reciprocation, there appears to be no obvious way to delete folders from the PC web browser manager, only through the Clipper Plus app itself. It would be much more preferable to have complete editing control on all platforms versus trying to remember how and where to accomplish a specific clip management task. In my large data entry test, I had copied all clips to Clipper Plus in relative order to avoid having to sort and reorder the clips at a later time. However, copying clips randomly and having to structure them later will most likely require a helping hand from the PC browser, unfortunately. Lastly, creating folders and clips directly from the PC browser resulted in some sync issues with the client apps on my devices. Upon creating several folders on the PC that held many clips each, they failed to display within the apps until I reordered a folder through the PC browser. Miraculously, all the created folders and clips then displayed perfectly within the app on all devices upon doing so. Perhaps these shortcomings will be addressed in future updates; only time will tell. I will definitely raise my rating another half star once these issues are resolved as they are relatively minor problems once you understand them. All things being equal, these listed idiosyncrasies are still a minor inconvenience compared to the amount of time that can be saved and the convenient functionality of having a clipboard recorder and cloud data manager.

As this was the first time I have used such a product, I was amazed how I was able to function without it once I had discovered the vast amount of tasks it could inherently employ. Several applications for Clipper Plus could include shopping lists, grocery lists, product listings, study material, Wikipedia entries, addresses, personal info, SMS messages, diary entries, ASCII art, writing projects or whatever else you could imagine. For massive data entry tasks within apps that exist on multiple devices, Clipper Plus shines like the sun to convert that mundane process into something much more efficient and pleasant to ultimately bolster your productivity. The value of time means everything in our human existence, and Clipper Plus can save a tremendous amount of it; only limited to your creative imagination. For the paltry price of $1.99 for the core app and the free download of the external sync plugin, I can honestly recommend Clipper Plus to nearly everyone for a multitude of purposes and reasons.

Pros:

• Robust and thorough clipboard recorder with data management.
• Free cloud service to link all data between the PC and client devices.
• Ability to sort, search, edit, organize and manage saved clips globally.
• Direct clip creation through all platforms allows for a global cloud text editor.
• Convenient options for notifications, linking, interface and data management.
• A multitude of functionality, purpose and application only limited to imagination.

Cons:

• No obvious method to delete folders from the ClipperSync.com site.
• Lacks an apparent function to reorder existing clips within the Android app.
• Relative sync issues occasionally; though, solved by reordering lists on ClipperSync.com.

Reviewer rating:
Device/OS used: Samsung Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 7 2012 / KitKat v4.4.4, Lollipop v5.1.1

Purchase at Google Play
Mobilism: Clipper Plus with Sync v2.4.13 (Paid)