The fastest way to paste clipboard content into a file on Windows is to use Advanced Paste in Microsoft PowerToys, an open-source utility suite for power users. It adds practical, developer-focused workflows without extra scripts.

What Is Advanced Paste in PowerToys?

Advanced Paste lets you transform clipboard content in several ways before you paste it. You can convert rich text to plain text, pretty-print JSON, or wrap content as Markdown. 

We covered these transformations in our earlier guide, Convert Clipboard Content into Plain Text, JSON, or Markdown with a Few Clicks. The same module also supports direct file creation from clipboard content, which we focus on here.

Some of Advanced Paste’s higher-tier features, such as AI-assisted rewrites, summaries, and translations, require API access to generative models and therefore consume tokens. That is not the case for the features in this guide or the previous one, which run locally.

Here, you will learn how to convert clipboard content into files directly and reliably.

What Files Can Advanced Paste Convert To?

Advanced Paste can write your clipboard content directly to disk as .txt, .png, or .html. You open the Advanced Paste window with Win+Shift+V in the target destination and choose the right action to generate a file.

If you prefer a quicker flow, you can assign dedicated shortcuts to each paste-as-file action in PowerToys Settings.

What Is PowerToys?

PowerToys extends Windows with developer-friendly tools such as FancyZones for window tiling, File Explorer add-ons, PowerToys Run, and many others.

For more background and context about PowerToys, head to our interview with Jaime Bernardo about PowerToys development.

How to Install Powertoys on Windows?

Install PowerToys from the Microsoft Store or download it from GitHub. Launch PowerToys, open Settings, and enable the modules you plan to use. If you need a refresher on the process, our previous guide includes step-by-step instructions with screenshots.

How to Paste Directly Into a .txt File With PowerToys?

Copy the desired text and navigate to the folder where you want to save it as a file. Once there, activate Advanced Paste window by pressing Win+Shift+V. Then, choose Paste as .txt file. A new text file will appear in the location, with an auto-generated name and the contents of your clipboard inside (Figure 1).

Fig. 1: Copying text directly into a .txt file with Advanced Paste in PowerToys.

If you want a one-step workflow, configure a dedicated shortcut for Paste as .txt file in Advanced Paste settings. To do that, scroll down until you see Additional actions and select Configure shortcut to assign a specific key combination. After that, you’ll only need to use the shortcut and the file will be created automatically.

NOTE: All shortcuts must start with either of the following keys: Win, Ctrl, Alt or Shift.

How to Paste Directly Into a .png File With PowerToys?

If you’ve copied an image to the clipboard, for example by using the Win+Shift+S shortcut, you can paste that image directly into a new .png file regardless of the original format.

Open the folder where you want the file to appear. With the image still in the clipboard, press Win+Shift+V to open Advanced Paste window and select Paste as .png file. PowerToys will automatically generate a file with your image in the selected location (Figure 2).

Fig. 2: Copying an image with Windows Snipping Tool and pasting it directly into a .png file with Advanced Paste in PowerToys.

For easier operation, you can assign a direct shortcut to Paste as .png file in the same way you could with the Paste as .txt file.

How to Paste Directly Into a .html File With PowerToys?

Copy text from a browser or another tool that renders HTML code. Next, open the destination folder, activate Advanced Paste window with the Win+Shift+V key combination, and pick Paste as .html file. PowerToys will create an HTML file populated with the contents of your clipboard (Figure 3).

Fig. 3: Copying HTML-formatted text from a website and pasting it directly into an .html file with Advanced Paste in PowerToys.

For a single-step action, follow similar steps as before and assign a direct shortcut to Paste as .html file. When the clipboard holds HTML, pressing the shortcut will save the file immediately.

What About the AI Features?

If you want more powerful and flexible clipboard transformations, enable Advanced Paste’s AI-assisted actions to rewrite, summarize, translate, or apply custom prompts to clipboard text. These features require API access to a generative model and consume tokens, but they can significantly accelerate documentation, code review notes, and quick reformatting tasks.

We will cover configuration and best practices for these AI options in the next guide.

Janea Systems and PowerToys

Janea Systems collaborated with Microsoft and the open-source community to make PowerToys into a tool that simplifies the complex and makes everyday productivity faster. Read more about our involvement in a case study.

Our team knows how to turn ideas into solutions in line with the community. Interested in similar results? Let’s chat.