Create Bookmarklet (browser bookmark that executes Javsacript) to copy a given text to Clipboard

copy-to-clipboard-bookmarklet.md

Copy-to-clipboard Bookmarklet

Create Bookmarklet (browser bookmark that executes Javsacript) to copy a given text to Clipboard.

This is the base javascript:

(function (text) {
  var node = document.createElement('textarea')
  var selection = document.getSelection()

  node.textContent = text
  document.body.appendChild(node)

  selection.removeAllRanges()
  node.select()
  document.execCommand('copy')

  selection.removeAllRanges()
  document.body.removeChild(node)
})('Text To Copy')

Minify it (you can use UglifyJS or any other) to get something like this:

!function(a){var b=document.createElement("textarea"),c=document.getSelection();b.textContent=a,document.body.appendChild(b),c.removeAllRanges(),b.select(),document.execCommand("copy"),c.removeAllRanges(),document.body.removeChild(b)}("Text To Copy");

Prefix it with javascript::

javascript:!function(a){var b=document.createElement("textarea"),c=document.getSelection();b.textContent=a,document.body.appendChild(b),c.removeAllRanges(),b.select(),document.execCommand("copy"),c.removeAllRanges(),document.body.removeChild(b)}("Text To Copy");

Then add it as a new bookmark, in the URL field:

More applications

You can do stuff like a "Copy page title" bookmarklet by simply passing document.title instead of the fixed string:

javascript:!function(a){var b=document.createElement("textarea"),c=document.getSelection();b.textContent=a,document.body.appendChild(b),c.removeAllRanges(),b.select(),document.execCommand("copy"),c.removeAllRanges(),document.body.removeChild(b)}(document.title);

Works in Chrome, but Firefox 50.1 says:
document.execCommand('cut'/'copy') was denied because it was not called from inside a short running user-generated event handler.

Instead of create a temporary element (and erase current user's selection), use directly the copy event:

let copyListener = event => {
	document.removeEventListener("copy", copyListener, true);
	event.preventDefault();
	let clipboardData = event.clipboardData;
	clipboardData.clearData();
	clipboardData.setData("text/plain", "Hello, world!");
	clipboardData.setData("text/html", "<b>Hello, world!</b>");
};
document.addEventListener("copy", copyListener, true);
document.execCommand("copy");

This rocks!!

Thanks for this clever hack! Just to add that I needed to add semicolons after each statement to get it working in chrome

Very useful, thanks very much. I've referenced this in answer to relevant questions on Stack Overflow. :-)

Works in IE 11.0.96, but not in firefox 55.0.2 or 56.0 (tested on two computers). It seems like nothing happens, the old clipboard is still there. If I open the bookmarklet in a new tab, it displays "true". Any idea what to change?

Here is a shorter stringified version with the text to copy in front to make it easier to spot in the bookmark manager. Just replace TXT with whatever you want to copy.
javascript:{t='TXT';d=document;d.body.appendChild(Object.assign(d.createElement('textarea'),{value:t})).select();d.execCommand('copy');}

Here's a variation with a pop-up alert displaying what was copied. I prefer this one, but if you had something sensitive in there like a password then you might want to use the one above or change the alert at the end to not display the input (remove the +t at the end).

javascript:{t='TXT';d=document;d.body.appendChild(Object.assign(d.createElement('textarea'),{value:t})).select();d.execCommand('copy');alert('Text Copied\n'+t);}

I've found it very useful and have a bunch of bookmarklets in a folder in my bookmark bar for different usernames and such. You can use either single or double quotes for strings in JS so if your text contained one you could enclose it in the other (eg. t="Joe's final words"+' were "good bye".') You could even experiment with setting t to a JS function to copy the current date or something queried from the current page you are on. Lots of possibilities!

Seems late to the party, but hope this could still help with the Firefox issue.
javascript:{t="text";d=document;d.body.appendChild(Object.assign(d.createElement('textarea'),{value:t})).select();d.execCommand('copy');d.body.lastElementChild.setAttribute("hidden","hidden");d.preventDefault;}
The above code prevents showing "true" when clicked and hides the element that is created.

@cipher0x30: thank you so very much!!! This worked perfectly for me - until I renamed the bookmark. Now I can't get it to work again...

@cipher0x30: thank you so very much!!! This worked perfectly for me - until I renamed the bookmark. Now I can't get it to work again...

I also experienced that, but I found a little trick when it happens, although it also needs a few clicks.

Before trying to copy-paste, open developer console or inspect element and then click the bookmarklet (copy-paste).

Worked for me, hope it works for you as well.

Upon creating the bookmark, it only works once for me. Subsequent clicks show the following message in the console:
document.execCommand('cut'/'copy') wurde abgelehnt, weil es nicht von innerhalb einer kurz dauernden benutzergenerierten Ereignisbehandlung aufgerufen wurde.
There might be solutions down the rabbit hole here: https://stackoverflow.com/q/41094318.
All I want is an easy way to copy my rather long emailadress to the clipboard, preferably with a single click on a bookmark...

Instead of create a temporary element (and erase current user's selection), use directly the copy event:

let copyListener = event => {
	document.removeEventListener("copy", copyListener, true);
	event.preventDefault();
	let clipboardData = event.clipboardData;
	clipboardData.clearData();
	clipboardData.setData("text/plain", "Hello, world!");
	clipboardData.setData("text/html", "<b>Hello, world!</b>");
};
document.addEventListener("copy", copyListener, true);
document.execCommand("copy");

This works really well, except when I use it twice I get the following console error:
Uncaught SyntaxError: Identifier 'copyListener' has already been declared

What do you think is causing this?

Solved: Change let copyListener = to var copyListener =. Let variables cannot be redeclared!

Thanks you so much, @kylesnowschwartz! This is the final version that works for me:

javascript:
var copyListener = event => {
	document.removeEventListener("copy", copyListener, true);
	event.preventDefault();
	let clipboardData = event.clipboardData;
	clipboardData.clearData();
	clipboardData.setData("text/plain", "TEXTIWANTTOCOPYTOCLIPBOARD");
};
document.addEventListener("copy", copyListener, true);
document.execCommand("copy");
document.body.lastElementChild.setAttribute("hidden","hidden");
document.preventDefault;

none of this is working. How do I make it work on Chromebook?

The code works in Chrome but only when on an actual webpage. It's not working for empty chrome tabs or while viewing extensions (which is my personal use case).

This seems to work as well but the same problem:

javascript:(function(){
  var data = "Your data to be copied";
  var tempInput = document.createElement("input");
  tempInput.value = data;
  document.body.appendChild(tempInput);
  tempInput.select();
  document.execCommand("copy");
  document.body.removeChild(tempInput);
})();

Hey atjackiejohns
I think what you're experiencing is the general exclusions that Google applies to Chrome - extensions and scripts aren't allowed on certain pages by Google - this includes the chrome special tabs, some aspects of the chrome store - and I think also on other extensions too, but I'm not certain on that