Clipboard handling in the browser looks simple until you ship a feature that processes pasted content. Users paste from Word, Google Docs, Slack threads, spreadsheets, password managers, and their operating system's screenshot tool. Every source produces different data. These articles explain what is actually happening under the hood and how to build paste-handling features that survive contact with real-world clipboards.
The Clipboard Inspector Blog
Document Types and Their MIME Types: A Developer's Reference
Complete reference for document types and their MIME types — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, OpenDocument, and the legacy aliases that still appear in real uploads. Includes magic bytes and validation patterns.
Data MIME Types Explained: JSON, Binary, Custom, and More
A field guide to data MIME types — application/json, application/octet-stream, form-urlencoded, multipart, streaming formats, and custom vnd.* types. How to pick the right one for every payload.
Clipboard MIME Types Explained
A field guide to the MIME types you will encounter on the clipboard — text/plain, text/html, text/uri-list, image/*, custom application/* types — and when each one is the right source of truth.
How to Debug Paste Events in JavaScript
A practical workflow for debugging paste-related bugs in any web app: listening to events correctly, inspecting clipboardData, handling async reads, and catching the edge cases that break in production.
Clipboard API vs Paste Event: Which Should You Use?
The modern async Clipboard API and the traditional paste event solve overlapping but different problems. This article lays out the trade-offs so you can pick the right approach for each feature.
Clearing the Clipboard: A Practical Security Guide
Why clipboard data sticks around after a copy, what happens when you paste a password into the wrong window, and how to clear the clipboard programmatically from a web page.