If you want to view your clipboard in Windows 7, you will need a special tool that has a clipboard history. Most tools however do not allow you to view clipboard content copied before running the program.
View Clipboard via Vista/XP Clpboard.exe
Windows Vista and Windows XP had a .exe file in the Windows system32 directory called clipbrd.exe, which allowed you to view the clipboard in Windows 7. Unfortunately, they removed the clipboard viewer from Windows 7. However, you can copy this file into the Windows 7 system32 directory and try to run it in compatibility mode. This might work for you.
Clipbrd.exe location: C:\Windows\System32\clipbrd.exe
Freeware Clipboard Viewer
You can download a freeware clipboard viewer for Windows here.
A freeware clipboard view for text, bmp, wmf and dib files:
Shareware Clipboard Viewer + Text Editor: AceText
One of the best text editors with a clipboard history is AceText that not only allows you to view the clipboard, but also edit it and copy more text into the clipboard than ever before.
Larger Windows Clipboard!
Normally you can only copy one piece of text into the clipboard. With AceText you can copy as much as you want to into the Windows clipboard. Everything that you copy will automatically be added to the clipboard history. This can be a huge time-saver and possibly help you to avoid data loss. Sometimes you copy important text into the clipboard and then you accidentally copy something else and the more important text is lost – this won’t happen again with AceText!
Quickly Copy Text: SequencePaste
Want to copy a lot of text, but you don’t want to switch between the different applications over and over again? Then you can use the SequencePaste feature that allows you to copy the clipboard history one after another without the need to switch and copy again.