The clipboard provides a mechanism for the well-established cut-copy-paste model for simple data sharing between Win32-based applications. It enables an application to read or write data in many different standard and application-defined formats. It also works between applications on the same computer or on different computers on a network.
The clipboard acts as a central depository for data sharing among applications. When a user performs a cut or copy operation in an application, the application puts the selected data on the clipboard in one or more formats. Any other application can then retrieve the data from the clipboard, choosing from the available formats. The clipboard is a very loosely coupled exchange medium, wherein the two applications need only agree on the data format.
Key Point All Win32-based applications should support the clipboard for those data formats that they understand. For example, a text editor or word processor should at least be able to produce and accept clipboard data in pure text format. For more information, see Clipboard.