Copy Operations

• May 27, 2025
• 3 minutes to read

The GridControl allows users to copy data displayed within a grid view to the Clipboard.

Copy at Runtime

Users can press Ctrl+C or Ctrl+Insert to copy data selected in the GridControl to the clipboard in formats compatible with third-party applications (Microsoft Word or Excel, for example).

The following image demonstrates a copy operation from the GridControl to Excel:

Data Copy Specifics

• Only visible column content is copied.
• Only grouping column values are copied for selected group rows. All hidden rows in collapsed group rows are ignored.

Copy in Code

Users can copy only selected rows or cells. However, the GridControl includes the following methods that can copy any visible rows or cells:

The following example copies all visible rows to the clipboard:

• XAML

<dxg:GridControl Name="grid" />  
<Button Click="OnClick">Copy to Clipboard</Button>

• C#

void OnClick(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) {
   grid.CopyRangeToClipboard(grid.GetRowHandleByVisibleIndex(0), grid.GetRowHandleByVisibleIndex(grid.VisibleRowCount - 1));
}

Copy with Formatting

Row values are copied to the clipboard as text (the default setting):

• Newline strings ("\r ") separate rows in the clipboard.
• The TAB character ("\t") separates cell values within a row.

The GridControl allows users to copy data and conditional formatting (fonts, cell background, and content color) to the clipboard. When you paste copied data in Microsoft Word, Excel, or Outlook, the original formatting persists:

Set the DataViewBase.ClipboardMode property to Formatted to copy GridControl data with conditional formatting:

• XAML

<dxg:GridControl>
   <dxg:GridControl.View>
      <dxg:TableView ClipboardMode="Formatted" />
   </dxg:GridControl.View>
</dxg:GridControl>

Process Copy Operations

See Also

Breaking Change - Component functionality changes due to BinaryFormatter deprecation