How Can I Copy Multiple Images to the Clipboard?

Question

I want to be able to copy multiple images to the clipboard so that I can paste them into other programs like Discord. I saw that I could do this by selecting multiple files in the file explorer and copying them that way, which worked just fine. However, when I tried to replicate this with a python script, I could not get it to work.

Using the "win32clipboard" module I was able to copy images one at a time to the clipboard using this code:

from io import BytesIO
from win32 import win32clipboard
from PIL import Image

def send_to_clipboard(clip_type, filepath):
    
    image = Image.open(filepath)

    output = BytesIO()
    image.convert("RGB").save(output, "BMP")
    data = output.getvalue()[14:]
    output.close()

    win32clipboard.OpenClipboard()
    win32clipboard.EmptyClipboard()
    win32clipboard.SetClipboardData(clip_type, data)
    win32clipboard.CloseClipboard()
    print("DONE")

send_to_clipboard(win32clipboard.CF_DIB, '3z6xsu93v1h91.jpg')

After this, I wanted to try copying multiple images to the clipboard at the same time. I attempted to do this with this code:

from io import BytesIO
from win32 import win32clipboard
from PIL import Image
import time

def send_to_clipboard(clip_type, filepath):

    win32clipboard.OpenClipboard()
    win32clipboard.EmptyClipboard()

    for file in filepath:

        time.sleep(1)
    
        image = Image.open(file)

        output = BytesIO()
        image.convert("RGB").save(output, "BMP")
        data = output.getvalue()[14:]
        output.close()

        win32clipboard.SetClipboardData(clip_type, data)

    win32clipboard.CloseClipboard()
        
    print("DONE")

send_to_clipboard(win32clipboard.CF_DIB, ['3z6xsu93v1h91.jpg', 'Andrew Tate.jpeg'])

However, this code did not work. The only image that was copied over to the clipboard was the last in the image array, presumably because every time I sent data to the clipboard it overwritten whatever was on it beforehand, which confuses me because I thought that was what "win32clipboard.EmptyClipboard()" was for.

I was at a loss so I tried using AI to come up with a solution, but I didn't get anywhere. ChatGPT informed me that the "win32clipboard" module does not natively support storing multiple objects within the clipboard, is this true? if so is there another module I could utilize or something like that? Thank you for your time.

Answer 1

You’re absolutely right! When you copy images directly from File Explorer, the Windows clipboard doesn't store the actual image data but rather references (such as file paths or file identifiers). Programs like Discord or WhatsApp can access these references and then load the image from the file system, which is why they can handle multiple images without issue.

However, when you work with Python’s win32clipboard or similar libraries, you're dealing with raw data formats (like BMP or DIB) directly in the clipboard, and it doesn't include this kind of metadata (like file paths). That's why multiple images can't be handled natively, as the clipboard has no concept of "files" without such references.

To implement a workaround, you’d need to essentially mimic the way Windows handles this by implementing your own logic to store and manage file references rather than the raw image data. Unfortunately, this would likely require diving deeper into how clipboard formats are managed and possibly creating a custom clipboard format handler.

It’s not an easy task, but not impossible if you're familiar with how the Windows API and clipboard structures work. Hope that clarifies the difference!

Answer 2

Yes, it’s true that the win32clipboard module doesn’t natively support copying multiple images at once to the clipboard. The clipboard typically only holds one item at a time, so when you add a new item, it overwrites the existing one.

To achieve copying multiple images to the clipboard, you would need to combine the images into one single image and then copy that combined image to the clipboard. Unfortunately, there's no straightforward way to have multiple independent images in the clipboard at the same time for pasting into other programs.

Here’s one approach you can take:

Combine the images into a single image (a grid or vertically stacked) Copy that combined image to the clipboard Here's a modified version of your script that combines images vertically before copying them to the clipboard:

    from io import BytesIO
from win32 import win32clipboard
from PIL import Image

def combine_images(image_paths):
    images = [Image.open(image_path) for image_path in image_paths]

    # Find the total height and maximum width to create a combined image
    total_height = sum(image.height for image in images)
    max_width = max(image.width for image in images)

    combined_image = Image.new('RGB', (max_width, total_height))

    # Paste each image one below the other in the new combined image
    y_offset = 0
    for image in images:
        combined_image.paste(image, (0, y_offset))
        y_offset += image.height

    return combined_image

def send_to_clipboard(clip_type, image):
    output = BytesIO()
    image.convert("RGB").save(output, "BMP")
    data = output.getvalue()[14:]
    output.close()

    win32clipboard.OpenClipboard()
    win32clipboard.EmptyClipboard()
    win32clipboard.SetClipboardData(clip_type, data)
    win32clipboard.CloseClipboard()
    print("DONE")

image_paths = ['3z6xsu93v1h91.jpg', 'Andrew Tate.jpeg']  # List of images
combined_image = combine_images(image_paths)
send_to_clipboard(win32clipboard.CF_DIB, combined_image)

Explanation: combine_images function: This combines all the images vertically by pasting them into a new image with enough height to fit all of them. send_to_clipboard function: It converts the combined image to BMP format and copies it to the clipboard, similar to your original method. This way, when you paste into another program like Discord, you'll see the combined image.

Limitations:

This approach creates a single image from all the images, so they will no longer be independent images once pasted.

If you need each image to remain separate, unfortunately, the Windows clipboard doesn’t support that natively, and a workaround would involve dealing with clipboard formats and structures that aren't easy to handle with Python's basic clipboard libraries.