Clipboard

Table of contents

• Overview
• Copy & Cut
  • End-user usage
  • Context menu
  • Trigger copy & cut programmatically
  • Hooks
• Paste
  • End-user usage
  • Context menu
  • Trigger paste programmatically
  • Hooks
• Limitations

Overview

The clipboard offers Copy & Cut and Paste functionality, enabling you to copy & cut cell data from Handsontable and paste it to the system clipboard. This can be achieved either via shortcut keys or by triggering a copy & cut or paste programmatically.

Copy & Cut

Copy & Cut actions allow exporting data from Handsontable to the system clipboard. The CopyPaste plugin copies and cuts data as a text/plain and a text/html MIME-type.

End-user usage

Available keyboard shortcuts:

• CTRL/CMD + C - copies the content of the last cell in the selected range
• CTRL/CMD + X - cuts the content of the last cell in the selected range

Available options in the browser's toolbar:

• Edit > Copy - copies the content of the last cell in the selected range
• Edit > Cut - cuts the content of the last cell in the selected range

Context menu

When the context menu is enabled, it includes default items, including copy & cut options.

• Copy - as a predefined key copy
• Cut - as a predefined key cut

You can use them in the same way as the rest of the predefined items in the context menu. These operations are executed by document.execCommand().

const container = document.querySelector('#example1'); const hot = new Handsontable(container, { data: Handsontable.helper.createSpreadsheetData(5, 5), rowHeaders: true, colHeaders: true, contextMenu: ['copy', 'cut'], height: 'auto', licenseKey: 'non-commercial-and-evaluation' }); <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@11.0/dist/handsontable.full.min.js"></script> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@11.0/dist/handsontable.full.min.css" /> <div id="example1" class="hot "></div>

const container = document.querySelector('#example1');

const hot = new Handsontable(container, {
  data: Handsontable.helper.createSpreadsheetData(5, 5),
  rowHeaders: true,
  colHeaders: true,
  contextMenu: ['copy', 'cut'],
  height: 'auto',
  licenseKey: 'non-commercial-and-evaluation'
});

Trigger copy & cut programmatically

First, select a cell range to copy or cut.

hot.selectCell(1, 1);

Then use one of the following commands:

• document.execCommand('copy')
• document.execCommand('cut')

The CopyPaste plugin listens to the browser's copy and cut events. If triggered, our implementation will copy or cut the selected data to the system clipboard.

const container = document.querySelector('#example2'); const copyBtn = document.querySelector('#copy'); const cutBtn = document.querySelector('#cut'); const hot = new Handsontable(container, { rowHeaders: true, colHeaders: true, data: Handsontable.helper.createSpreadsheetData(5, 5), outsideClickDeselects: false, height: 'auto', licenseKey: 'non-commercial-and-evaluation' }); Handsontable.dom.addEvent(copyBtn, 'mousedown', function () { hot.selectCell(1, 1); }); Handsontable.dom.addEvent(copyBtn, 'click', function () { document.execCommand('copy'); }); Handsontable.dom.addEvent(cutBtn, 'mousedown', function () { hot.selectCell(1, 1); }); Handsontable.dom.addEvent(cutBtn, 'click', function () { document.execCommand('cut'); }); <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@11.0/dist/handsontable.full.min.js"></script> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@11.0/dist/handsontable.full.min.css" /> <div id="example2" class="hot"></div> <div class="controls"> <button id="copy">Select and copy cell B2</button> <button id="cut">Select and cut cell B2</button> </div>

const container = document.querySelector('#example2');
const copyBtn = document.querySelector('#copy');
const cutBtn = document.querySelector('#cut');

const hot = new Handsontable(container, {
  rowHeaders: true,
  colHeaders: true,
  data: Handsontable.helper.createSpreadsheetData(5, 5),
  outsideClickDeselects: false,
  height: 'auto',
  licenseKey: 'non-commercial-and-evaluation'
});

Handsontable.dom.addEvent(copyBtn, 'mousedown', function () {
  hot.selectCell(1, 1);
});

Handsontable.dom.addEvent(copyBtn, 'click', function () {
  document.execCommand('copy');
});

Handsontable.dom.addEvent(cutBtn, 'mousedown', function () {
  hot.selectCell(1, 1);
});

Handsontable.dom.addEvent(cutBtn, 'click', function () {
  document.execCommand('cut');
});

<div id="example2" class="hot"></div>
<div class="controls">
  <button id="copy">Select and copy cell B2</button>
  <button id="cut">Select and cut cell B2</button>
</div>

Note: Not all selection-related Handsontable methods result in it gaining focus. Make sure your table instance is focused by calling isListening() before copying or pasting data.

Hooks

The CopyPaste plugin exposes the following hooks to manipulate data during copy or cut operations:

• beforeCopy →
• afterCopy →
• beforeCut →
• afterCut →

Examples of how to use them are provided in their descriptions.

Paste

The Paste action allows the importing of data from external sources using the user's system clipboard. The CopyPaste firstly looks for text/html in the system clipboard, followed by text/plain.

End-user usage

Available keyboard shortcuts:

• CTRL/CMD + V - paste the content into the last cell in the selected range

Available options in the browser's toolbar:

• Edit > Paste - paste the content into the last cell in the selected range

Context menu

Due to security reason, modern browsers disallow to read from the system clipboard. Learn more (opens new window)

Trigger paste programmatically

Due to security reason, modern browsers disallow to read from the system clipboard. Learn more (opens new window)

Hooks

The CopyPaste plugin exposes the following hooks to manipulate data during the pasting operation:

• beforePaste →
• afterPaste →

Examples of how to use them are provided in their descriptions.

Limitations

1. The CopyPaste plugin doesn't copy, cut or paste cells' appearance.
2. The data copied from Handsontable will always remain as plain text. For example, if you copy a checked checkbox, the input will be kept as a value of 'true'.
3. document.execCommand can be called only during an immediate-execute event, such as a MouseEvent or a KeyboardEvent.
4. Internet Explorer only supports the Text MIME-type. This is the equivalent of text/plain.
5. Internet Explorer displays an allow/disallow confirmation prompt the first time a user tries to call the document.execCommand. Unfortunately, if a user denies access to the system clipboard, no exceptions will be thrown, and copy and cut actions will be disabled for the end-user. You can read more about this browser behavior on this page (opens new window).