Pasteboards

Pasteboards are data buffers used to hold items that have been cut or copied for transfer within a computer system. They function as the clipboard, a shared resource that mediates copy-paste and drag-and-drop operations across applications. When content is copied, the operating system stores a representation of that content in a pasteboard; a receiving application can request the most suitable format and insert the data accordingly.

Data stored in pasteboards can include plain text, rich text, images, audio, files, URLs, and other data types. Most pasteboards support multiple formats to accommodate different applications, such as providing both plain text and HTML representations. Some systems offer more than one pasteboard or provide history features that retain previously copied items, while others maintain a single global pasteboard.

Pasteboards enable cross-application data transfer but can also be involved in drag-and-drop operations, where a temporary pasteboard is used to move data between windows or applications. The exact implementation details vary by platform, with macOS and other desktop environments exposing APIs to interact with pasteboards, including creating, populating, and retrieving data in preferred formats.

Security and privacy considerations apply to pasteboards, since many systems allow data to be read by other running applications. Sensitive information should be copied only when necessary, and some platforms offer controls to limit or clear clipboard contents.

In practice, pasteboards are a foundational component of user interfaces in modern operating systems, providing the mechanism by which users copy, paste, and drag content between apps. See also clipboard, copy-paste, and drag-and-drop concepts.