Why copy and paste on the web are about to get magical

COPY AND PASTE: Microsoft and Google are now working on a new set of APIs (application programming interfaces) that might drastically alter how we think about basic actions like copy and paste. They’re known as Pickle Clipboard APIs, and they’ll let you copy and paste a variety of file kinds.

Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome currently only allow you to copy a limited number of file formats between the browser and native apps. JPEG, PNG, and HTML are just a few of the formats available. According to reports, the two browsers are currently collaborating on a new set of Chromium APIs that would hopefully broaden the list of supported file types.

Pickle Clipboard APIs will enhance the clipboard feature’s capability, allowing you to use a range of different file kinds, including bespoke formats created exclusively for online applications.

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Copying and pasting.docx (Microsoft Word) and TIFF (a large-image format for graphic design) content between your web and desktop apps is a basic example.

Developers may be able to copy-paste between PWAs (progressive web apps) and desktop apps now that the copy-paste feature has been extended to non-standard web formats. For example, Google products such as Google Docs and Google Sheets may support Office 365 file types such as Word and Excel. Those who have both a web-based and a native version of a certain app, such as SketchUp, should be able to copy-paste between both.

The Pickle Clipboard APIs “enable websites to read and write arbitrary unsanitized payloads using a standardized pickling format, as well as read and write a limited subset of OS-specific formats,” according to a Google Chromium discussion (for supporting legacy apps). The clipboard format’s name is mangled in a standardized fashion by the browser to signify that the material is from the web, allowing native apps to accept the unsanitized content.”

Apart from broadening compatibility to cover a variety of niche and proprietary file types, the new APIs will also provide developers access to unique clipboard formats, allowing them to fine-tune the copy-paste capability. The options are limitless.

The improved copy-paste feature could lead to a much better experience when utilizing and switching between web applications. Unfortunately, there is currently no indication of when these functionalities will be available in Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge.