We learn something new every day. Like the fact that a typical adult brain contains 15 billion to 200 billion neurons. This number represents the amount of information in 10 billion Encyclopaedia pages. The brain is a very big place in a very small space. Our brains can processes 400 billion bits of information a second, but we are only aware of 2,000 of those.

Obviously the ability of the human mind to process millions of bits of diverse information every single day is something of a marvel. And furthermore, we have the ability to store and convert these intelligent thoughts into meaningful information. Our brains do this by evaluating, sorting, figuring and redirecting information based on sequences and relationships. It discards the irrelevant bits of information, and fills the blanks with other bits of information.

But sometimes it can feel that our memory just isn't big enough: we have to make mental reminders; write cryptic one-word clues on little yellow sticky notes, and schedule important to dos into your phones and PCs. Let's face it, it doesn't matter what we do to spark up that thought processes, there are times when we are always going to forget to remember. Indeed, scientists have estimated that we remember only one of every 100 pieces of information we receive.

If our brain had the capacity to remember everything, we would be paralysed by information overload. So in order to have a good memory, it has to be a selective one. The reason we forget things is due to interference, as memories compete with one another. The more similar the memories, the greater the interference. There are two types of interference: retroactive interference (which deals with new memories such as remembering your new PIN); and proactive interference (an old memory such as your previous PIN which gets in the way of you remembering the new number).

Copying and pasting in Windows is a bit like reading today's newspaper, then later looking at the TV guide and forgetting completely any of the news we have just digested. Copying and pasting in Windows means that the interference stops a newer paste from being saved into the clipboard, as there just isn't the capacity to have more than one item in there. It's a bit like having a scrapbook that can contain just one item at a time. When you use the Copy command in any Windows application, the subject is copied to the clipboard ready for pasting; if you copy something else before pasting, the clipboard discards the previous item to make room.

Microsoft Office Clipboard improves on these basic features by enabling users to collect up to 24 separate selections of text, graphics, tables, pictures and other file content − even entire documents − form across the suite of Office programs. These selections can then be pasted into files in any application, in any order and as many times as required.

The clipboard works across all the main Office applications, so you can copy up to 24 items from an Excel spreadsheet before pasting into a Word document, for example. By default the Office clipboard is not switched on, and you will be restricted to copying and pasting just one item at a time unless you activate the clipboard function. To do this, simply launch any Office application, click the Edit menu and select Office clipboard. Alternatively, hold down the Control (Ctrl) key on the keyboard and quickly hit the C letter twice.

Once activated, adding items to the Office clipboard is exactly the same as adding something to the Windows clipboard. By using the standard Copy command or keyboard shortcut to copy, the copied item will appear in the Office clipboard Task Pane, and the first item you copy sits at the top of the list.

Now you can select paragraphs from Word, tables of figures from Excel, website addresses from your Outlook folders, and graphics and text from PowerPoint, and copy and paste all of these pieces of information to create a new presentation in PowerPoint. If the Clipboard is already open in another application, the clipboard icon is shown in the lower right corner of the computer screen. Double click on the icon to open the Clipboard in the application you are working in.

Remember, the Office clipboard holds a maximum of 24 items. Messages showing the running total will pop up in the Notification Area of the Taskbar. If you try to copy a 25th item the earliest item copied will be deleted without notification. You can free up space by deleting old or unwanted items: right-click on entry in the Office clipboard (or click the entry's down-pointing arrow) and select Delete. Alternatively, click the Clear All button at the top to remove all of the items.

Office clipboard will display a slider bar on the right-hand side of the clipboard. You can use this to scroll up and down the list to find out what you have stored for pasting into your other documents. Click the Options button to alter some behavioural aspects of the Office clipboard. Click to select Show Office Clipboard Automatically, for instance, and the Office clipboard will always be present..

Finally, a word of caution. In the same way as no warning is offered that earlier copies will be lost when copying more than 24 items, if you close all Office applications then the contents of the Office clipboard will be lost. So for the contents to remain safe at least one Office application needs to remain open at all times.