Skip to content
Handsontable dev

Clipboard

Copy data from selected cells to the system clipboard.

Overview

You can copy or cut data from Handsontable to the system clipboard, either manually (using the context menu or the Ctrl/Cmd+C/X shortcuts) or programmatically (using Handsontable’s API methods).

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

To let the end user copy the contents of column headers, see the Copy with headers section.

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().

TypeScript
/* file: app.component.ts */
import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { GridSettings } from '@handsontable/angular-wrapper';


@Component({
  selector: 'example1-clipboard',
  standalone: false,
  template: ` <div>
    <hot-table [data]="data" [settings]="gridSettings"></hot-table>
  </div>`,
})
export class Example1ClipboardComponent {


  readonly data = [
    ['A1', 'B1', 'C1', 'D1', 'E1'],
    ['A2', 'B2', 'C2', 'D2', 'E2'],
    ['A3', 'B3', 'C3', 'D3', 'E3'],
    ['A4', 'B4', 'C4', 'D4', 'E4'],
    ['A5', 'B5', 'C5', 'D5', 'E5'],
  ];


  readonly gridSettings: GridSettings ={
    rowHeaders: true,
    colHeaders: true,
    contextMenu: ['copy', 'cut'],
    height: 'auto',
    autoWrapRow: true,
    autoWrapCol: true
  };
}
/* end-file */




/* file: app.module.ts */
import { NgModule, ApplicationConfig } from '@angular/core';
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { registerAllModules } from 'handsontable/registry';
import { HOT_GLOBAL_CONFIG, HotGlobalConfig, HotTableModule } from '@handsontable/angular-wrapper';
import { CommonModule } from '@angular/common';
import { NON_COMMERCIAL_LICENSE } from '@handsontable/angular-wrapper';
/* start:skip-in-compilation */
import { Example1ClipboardComponent } from './app.component';
/* end:skip-in-compilation */


// register Handsontable's modules
registerAllModules();


export const appConfig: ApplicationConfig = {
  providers: [
    {
      provide: HOT_GLOBAL_CONFIG,
      useValue: {
        license: NON_COMMERCIAL_LICENSE,
      } as HotGlobalConfig
    }
  ],
};


@NgModule({
  imports: [ BrowserModule, HotTableModule, CommonModule ],
  declarations: [ Example1ClipboardComponent ],
  providers: [...appConfig.providers],
  bootstrap: [ Example1ClipboardComponent ]
})


export class AppModule { }
/* end-file */
HTML
<div>
  <example1-clipboard></example1-clipboard>
</div>

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.

TypeScript
/* file: app.component.ts */
import {Component, ViewChild, ViewEncapsulation} from '@angular/core';
import { GridSettings, HotTableComponent } from '@handsontable/angular-wrapper';


@Component({
  selector: 'example3-clipboard',
  standalone: false,
  template: `
    <div class="example-controls-container">
      <div class="controls">
        <button
          id="copy"
          (mousedown)="copyBtnMousedown()"
          (click)="copyBtnClick()"
        >
          Select and copy cell B2
        </button>&nbsp;
        <button id="cut" (mousedown)="cutBtnMousedown()" (click)="cutBtnClick()">
          Select and cut cell B2
        </button>
      </div>
    </div>
    <div>
      <hot-table [data]="data" [settings]="gridSettings"></hot-table>
    </div>`
  ,
  encapsulation: ViewEncapsulation.None
})
export class Example3ClipboardComponent {
  @ViewChild(HotTableComponent, { static: false })
  readonly hotTable!: HotTableComponent;


  readonly data = [
    ['A1', 'B1', 'C1', 'D1', 'E1'],
    ['A2', 'B2', 'C2', 'D2', 'E2'],
    ['A3', 'B3', 'C3', 'D3', 'E3'],
    ['A4', 'B4', 'C4', 'D4', 'E4'],
    ['A5', 'B5', 'C5', 'D5', 'E5'],
  ];


  readonly gridSettings:GridSettings = {
    rowHeaders: true,
    colHeaders: true,
    outsideClickDeselects: false,
    height: 'auto',
    autoWrapRow: true,
    autoWrapCol: true
  };


  copyBtnClick(): void {
    document.execCommand('copy');
  }


  cutBtnClick(): void {
    document.execCommand('cut');
  }


  copyBtnMousedown(): void {
    const hot = this.hotTable?.hotInstance;


    hot?.selectCell(1, 1);
  }


  cutBtnMousedown(): void {
    const hot = this.hotTable?.hotInstance;


    hot?.selectCell(1, 1);
  }
}




/* end-file */




/* file: app.module.ts */
import { NgModule, ApplicationConfig } from '@angular/core';
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { registerAllModules } from 'handsontable/registry';
import { HOT_GLOBAL_CONFIG, HotGlobalConfig, HotTableModule } from '@handsontable/angular-wrapper';
import { CommonModule } from '@angular/common';
import { NON_COMMERCIAL_LICENSE } from '@handsontable/angular-wrapper';
/* start:skip-in-compilation */
import { Example3ClipboardComponent } from './app.component';
/* end:skip-in-compilation */


// register Handsontable's modules
registerAllModules();


export const appConfig: ApplicationConfig = {
  providers: [
    {
      provide: HOT_GLOBAL_CONFIG,
      useValue: {
        license: NON_COMMERCIAL_LICENSE,
      } as HotGlobalConfig
    }
  ],
};


@NgModule({
  imports: [ BrowserModule, HotTableModule, CommonModule ],
  declarations: [ Example3ClipboardComponent ],
  providers: [...appConfig.providers],
  bootstrap: [ Example3ClipboardComponent ]
})


export class AppModule { }
/* end-file */
HTML
<div>
  <example3-clipboard></example3-clipboard>
</div>

Mind that some of Handsontable’s selection-related methods don’t set focus on your grid automatically. To make sure that your grid is focused, call isListening() before you copy, cut or paste data.

Hooks

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

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

Copy with headers

You can let the end user copy the contents of column headers, by enabling additional context menu items:

copy_with_headers_light

copy_with_headers_dark

Right-click on a cell to try it out:

TypeScript
/* file: app.component.ts */
import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { GridSettings } from '@handsontable/angular-wrapper';


@Component({
  selector: 'example2-clipboard',
  standalone: false,
  template: ` <div>
    <hot-table [data]="data" [settings]="gridSettings"></hot-table>
  </div>`,
})
export class Example2ClipboardComponent {


  readonly data = [
    ['A1', 'B1', 'C1', 'D1', 'E1', 'F1', 'G1', 'H1', 'I1', 'J1'],
    ['A2', 'B2', 'C2', 'D2', 'E2', 'F2', 'G2', 'H2', 'I2', 'J2'],
    ['A3', 'B3', 'C3', 'D3', 'E3', 'F3', 'G3', 'H3', 'I3', 'J3'],
    ['A4', 'B4', 'C4', 'D4', 'E4', 'F4', 'G4', 'H4', 'I4', 'J4'],
    ['A5', 'B5', 'C5', 'D5', 'E5', 'F5', 'G5', 'H5', 'I5', 'J5'],
  ];


  readonly gridSettings: GridSettings = {
    contextMenu: true,
    copyPaste: {
      copyColumnHeaders: true,
      copyColumnGroupHeaders: true,
      copyColumnHeadersOnly: true,
    },
    colHeaders: true,
    rowHeaders: true,
    height: 'auto',
    nestedHeaders: [
      [
        'A',
        { label: 'B', colspan: 2 },
        { label: 'C', colspan: 2 },
        { label: 'D', colspan: 2 },
        { label: 'E', colspan: 2 },
        'F',
      ],
      ['G', 'H', 'I', 'J', 'K', 'L', 'M', 'N', 'O', 'P'],
    ],
    autoWrapRow: true,
    autoWrapCol: true
  };
}
/* end-file */




/* file: app.module.ts */
import { NgModule, ApplicationConfig } from '@angular/core';
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { registerAllModules } from 'handsontable/registry';
import { HOT_GLOBAL_CONFIG, HotGlobalConfig, HotTableModule } from '@handsontable/angular-wrapper';
import { CommonModule } from '@angular/common';
import { NON_COMMERCIAL_LICENSE } from '@handsontable/angular-wrapper';
/* start:skip-in-compilation */
import { Example2ClipboardComponent } from './app.component';
/* end:skip-in-compilation */


// register Handsontable's modules
registerAllModules();


export const appConfig: ApplicationConfig = {
  providers: [
    {
      provide: HOT_GLOBAL_CONFIG,
      useValue: {
        license: NON_COMMERCIAL_LICENSE,
      } as HotGlobalConfig
    }
  ],
};


@NgModule({
  imports: [ BrowserModule, HotTableModule, CommonModule ],
  declarations: [ Example2ClipboardComponent ],
  providers: [...appConfig.providers],
  bootstrap: [ Example2ClipboardComponent ]
})


export class AppModule { }
/* end-file */
HTML
<div>
  <example2-clipboard></example2-clipboard>
</div>

To add the context menu items, configure the CopyPaste plugin with these options:

copyPaste: {
  copyColumnHeaders: true,
  copyColumnGroupHeaders: true,
  copyColumnHeadersOnly: true,
}

To copy column headers programmatically, call the copyPaste.copy() method with these arguments:

// access the `CopyPaste` plugin instance
const copyPastePlugin = hot.getPlugin('copyPaste');


// select some cells
hot.selectCell(1, 1);


// copy the selected cells along with their nearest column headers
copyPastePlugin.copy('with-column-headers');


// copy the selected cells along with all their related columns
// headers
copyPastePlugin.copy('with-all-column-headers');


// copy the column headers nearest to the selected cells
// (without copying the cells themselves)
copyPastePlugin.copy('column-headers-only');

Paste

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

Extending paste behavior

The parsePastedValue option controls how pasted content is written to cells when the user pastes from the clipboard into Handsontable (e.g. from another Handsontable instance or between cells in the same table). It does not affect how other applications read or process the clipboard.

By default (parsePastedValue: false), pasted content is written as plain strings. Non-scalar values such as objects are coerced to string (e.g. an object becomes "[object Object]"), which keeps the data model simple and avoids parsing clipboard text. Set parsePastedValue: true when you need to preserve JavaScript structures across paste: pasted text is then parsed (e.g. JSON-like content) and the resulting values are written to the data source, so you can copy and paste objects or arrays between cells or between instances. With parsing enabled, schema validation is relaxed so object-based values can be pasted into cells that would normally expect a scalar.

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 reasons, modern browsers disallow reading from the system clipboard. Learn more

Trigger paste programmatically

Due to security reasons, modern browsers disallow reading from the system clipboard. Learn more

Hooks

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

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

Known 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 the value of 'true'.
  3. document.execCommand can be called only during an immediate-execute event, such as a MouseEvent or a KeyboardEvent.
  4. Clipboard operations don’t work in Chrome 133+ with Handsontable 14.6.0, 14.6.1, or 15.0.0. Update to 14.6.2 or 15.0.1+. See the incident announcement for details.
WindowsmacOSActionExcelSheets
Ctrl+XCmd+XCut the contents of the selected cells to the system clipboard✓✓
Ctrl+CCmd+CCopy the contents of the selected cells to the system clipboard✓✓
Ctrl+VCmd+VPaste from the system clipboard✓✓
Handsontable 12.3.0: Copying cells with headers

Configuration options

copyPaste
copyable
parsePastedValue
skipColumnOnPaste
skipRowOnPaste

Core methods

getCopyableData()
getCopyableText()

Hooks

afterCopy
afterCopyLimit
afterCut
afterPaste
beforeCopy
beforeCut
beforePaste
modifyCopyableRange

Plugins

CopyPaste