Change the clipboard data

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 overwrite the clipboard value directly.

Get data from the clipboardThis article explains how to get text data from the clipboard.

The action to use

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

Details of the “Set clipboard text” action

The action has the following parameter.

Parameter	Value
Clipboard text	The string to set on the clipboard

You can enter a string directly or use a value stored in a variable.

The flow uses the same clipboard that you normally use, so be aware that any data you copied to the clipboard before the run will be overwritten.

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 sets a string on the clipboard and stores that string in a variable.

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

Clipboard.SetText Text: $'''changed from power automate desktop'''
Clipboard.GetText Text=> ClipboardText

Implement in Power Automate Desktop

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

2. Set the parameter as follows.

   Parameter	Value
   Clipboard text	changed from power automate desktop

3. When you run the flow, the clipboard value at that moment is overwritten.

Possible exceptions

If a problem occurs while setting the clipboard contents, the action fails with the error “Can’t set clipboard contents.”

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