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ClipboardItem

The ClipboardItem interface of the Clipboard API represents a single item format, used when reading or writing data via the Clipboard API. That is clipboard.read() and clipboard.write() respectively.

The benefit of having the ClipboardItem interface to represent data, is that it enables developers to cope with the varying scope of file types and data easily.

Access to the contents of the clipboard is gated behind the Permissions API: The clipboard-write permission is granted automatically to pages when they are in the active tab. The clipboard-read permission must be requested, which you can do by trying to read data from the clipboard.

Note: To work with text see the Clipboard.readText() and Clipboard.writeText() methods of the Clipboard interface.

Note: You can only pass in one clipboard item at a time.

Constructor

ClipboardItem()

Creates a new ClipboardItem object, with the MIME type as the key and Blob as the value.

Instance properties

This interface provides the following properties.

types Read only

Returns an Array of MIME types available within the ClipboardItem.

presentationStyle Read only

Returns one of the following: "unspecified", "inline" or "attachment".

Instance methods

This interface defines the following methods.

getType()

Returns a Promise that resolves with a Blob of the requested MIME type, or an error if the MIME type is not found.

Examples

Writing To Clipboard

Here we're writing a new ClipboardItem() to the clipboard by requesting a png image using the Fetch API, and in turn, the responses' blob() method, to create the new ClipboardItem.

js

async function writeClipImg() {
  try {
    const imgURL = "/myimage.png";
    const data = await fetch(imgURL);
    const blob = await data.blob();

    await navigator.clipboard.write([
      new ClipboardItem({
        [blob.type]: blob,
      }),
    ]);
    console.log("Fetched image copied.");
  } catch (err) {
    console.error(err.name, err.message);
  }
}

Reading From The Clipboard

Here we're returning all items on the clipboard via the clipboard.read() method. Then utilizing the ClipboardItem.types property to set the getType() argument and return the corresponding blob object.

js

async function getClipboardContents() {
  try {
    const clipboardItems = await navigator.clipboard.read();

    for (const clipboardItem of clipboardItems) {
      for (const type of clipboardItem.types) {
        const blob = await clipboardItem.getType(type);
        // we can now use blob here
      }
    }
  } catch (err) {
    console.error(err.name, err.message);
  }
}

Specifications

Browser compatibility

Desktop Mobile
Chrome Edge Firefox Internet Explorer Opera Safari WebView Android Chrome Android Firefox for Android Opera Android Safari on IOS Samsung Internet
ClipboardItem 98
76–98The ClipboardItem constructor only accepts a blob as the item data, but not strings or Promises that resolve to strings or blobs. See bug 1014310.
98
79–98The ClipboardItem constructor only accepts a blob as the item data, but not strings or Promises that resolve to strings or blobs. See bug 1014310.
87 No 84
63–84The ClipboardItem constructor only accepts a blob as the item data, but not strings or Promises that resolve to strings or blobs. See bug 1014310.
13.1 98
84–98The ClipboardItem constructor only accepts a blob as the item data, but not strings or Promises that resolve to strings or blobs. See bug 1014310.
98
84–98The ClipboardItem constructor only accepts a blob as the item data, but not strings or Promises that resolve to strings or blobs. See bug 1014310.
No 68
60–68The ClipboardItem constructor only accepts a blob as the item data, but not strings or Promises that resolve to strings or blobs. See bug 1014310.
13.4 18.0
14.0–18.0The ClipboardItem constructor only accepts a blob as the item data, but not strings or Promises that resolve to strings or blobs. See bug 1014310.
ClipboardItem 76 79 87 No 63 13.1 84 84 No 60 13.4 14.0
getType 76 79 87 No 63 13.1 84 84 No 60 13.4 14.0
presentationStyle No No 87 No No 13.1 No No No No 13.4 No
types 76 79 87 No 63 13.1 84 84 No 60 13.4 14.0

See also

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https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/ClipboardItem