Web/API/ClipboardItem

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

Properties

This interface provides the following properties.

types Read only: Returns an Array of MIME types available within the ClipboardItem.

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.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.

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.

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

Specification	Status	Comment
Clipboard API and eventsThe definition of 'ClipboardItem' in that specification.	Working Draft	Initial definition.

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
`ClipboardItem` Experimental'	Chrome Full support 66	Edge Full support ≤79	Firefox No support No	IE No support No	Opera Full support Yes	Safari No support No	WebView Android Full support 66	Chrome Android Full support 66	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android Full support 9.0
`ClipboardItem()` constructor Experimental'	Chrome Full support 66	Edge Full support ≤79	Firefox No support No	IE No support No	Opera Full support Yes	Safari No support No	WebView Android Full support 66	Chrome Android Full support 66	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android Full support 9.0
`getType` Experimental'	Chrome Full support 66	Edge Full support ≤79	Firefox No support No	IE No support No	Opera Full support Yes	Safari No support No	WebView Android Full support 66	Chrome Android Full support 66	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android Full support 9.0
`types` Experimental'	Chrome Full support 66	Edge Full support ≤79	Firefox No support No	IE No support No	Opera Full support Yes	Safari No support No	WebView Android Full support 66	Chrome Android Full support 66	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android Full support 9.0

Legend

Full support: Full support
No support: No support
Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.': Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.

Note: Image format support varies by browser. See the browser compatibility table for the Clipboard interface.