One of the things I find most difficult about using Windows, and which I have yet to fully replicate, is the middle management of the clipboard that exists in Linux. But something can be done and let’s do it, with all its ifs and buts.

What i mean? In Linux, as in Windows and any other operating system, copying and pasting is a basic task. In both cases, it is done in the same way either through the context menu or with a key combination (Ctrl+C for copying and Ctrl+V for pasting). So far so good. But in Linux it is possible to use a so-called “buffer memory”, which, once you get used to it, is very difficult to give up, because it is convenient… when writing.

The latter is important because it is possible to copy and paste various things, including text, files, fragments of content in applications… But in this case I am talking only and exclusively about text, about copying and pasting text as quickly as possible, with a nuance to which I will express later. So let’s continue.

What are “buffers” in Linux? In that you don’t have to copy a fragment of text to paste it. Simply By selecting the text, you can insert it with the middle mouse button. Even better, this selection won’t be saved as a copied item – unless you want it to – in your clipboard history. The capabilities of this feature vary from one desktop to another, and there are some that even allow you to copy and paste images like this one.

An example of selecting and pasting text with a middle mouse click:

Speaking of clipboards, Windows has its own, although it leaves a bit to be desired. It is usually preferable to use third-party applications.

But let’s get back to the problem that brought us here: how you can copy selected text and paste it with the middle mouse button (or touch pad) in Windows? With an app older than some of you reading us: True X-Mouse Gizmo for Windows, as it describes itself, «the unsurpassed liberating X11 copy and paste capabilities in Windows» (X11 is a traditional graphics server for Unix-like systems such as Linux).

All you have to do is download the executable, save it somewhere, and if you want it to run at the beginning of the session, add it to that. The available version was released on April 15, 2005 and was released for Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/.NET/2003, but it works well on Windows 11. It will do what it is expected to do when it starts up… with nuances.

And just so everyone understands, the True X-Mouse Gizmo was launched the same year YouTube was launched, which is said to be early; Since then it has rained buckets and that is enough. So its biggest and bloodiest counterpart is that middle click will no longer work like before and you will no longer be able to use it to, for example, effectively open links in a new browser tab (although if you can do with the alternatives…).

In short, don’t take it as a recommendation, but rather as an interest. Generally speaking, the features you gain don’t make up for what you lose, except for very specific times when writing is your main activity. All in all, it’s a shame that Windows doesn’t have this feature that skyrockets productivity and order.