Get data from the clipboard

Power Automate Desktop can send keyboard input as hardware input, so it can reproduce user operations such as copy and paste. By using actions, you can also work with the clipboard directly.

This article explains how to get text data from the clipboard.

Change the clipboard dataExplains how to overwrite the clipboard value directly.

The action to use

The action used here is called “Get clipboard text.”

Details of the “Get clipboard text” action

This action has no input parameters, and the text it gets is stored in the following variable.

Item	Value
Variables produced	The name of the variable that stores the clipboard text (default: ClipboardText)

The flow uses the same clipboard that you normally use, so if you copied any data to the clipboard before the run, that value is what you get.

Be careful when handling sensitive information.

Clear data stored on the clipboardFlows sometimes handle sensitive information, so it's best to leave as little data behind as possible and restore the state from before the run. This article explains how to clear the clipboard value.

Implement by copying and pasting

As a sample, I prepared a flow that opens Notepad, types a message, and stores its contents in a variable through the clipboard.

Copy the following code and paste it into the Power Automate Desktop flow designer to add the actions.

System.RunApplication.RunApplicationAndWaitToLoad ApplicationPath: $'''notepad''' WindowStyle: System.ProcessWindowStyle.Normal Timeout: 0 ProcessId=> NotepadProcessId WindowHandle=> WindowHandle
WAIT 1
MouseAndKeyboard.SendKeys.FocusAndSendKeys TextToSend: $'''A test flow is running{Control}(a){Control}(c)''' DelayBetweenKeystrokes: 10 SendTextAsHardwareKeys: False
Clipboard.GetText Text=> ClipboardText

Implement in Power Automate Desktop

1. In “Search actions,” type “Get clipboard text.”

2. Set the produced variable as follows (you can leave the default).

   Item	Value
   Variables produced	%ClipboardText%

3. When you run the flow, the clipboard text at that moment is stored in the variable.

Possible exceptions

The clipboard can hold many kinds of data besides text.

If the clipboard contents can’t be retrieved, the action fails with the error “Can’t retrieve clipboard contents.”

We recommend adding error handling with an “On block error” block.