To retrieve data from the clipboard, an application first must call the WinOpenClipbrd function to verify that no other applications are trying to retrieve or set the clipboard data.

Once an application successfully opens the clipboard, it calls the WinQueryClipbrdData function, specifying a preferred format. If that format is not available (indicated by a NULL return from the WinQueryClipbrdData function) the application should continue to call WinQueryClipbrdData for other possible formats until it either receives the data or runs out of format choices.

If the clipboard contains one of the requested formats, the WinQueryClipbrdData function returns a 32-bit integer, the meaning of which depends on the particular format. For text data, the return value is a pointer to a shareable memory object containing the text. For bit map data, the return value is a bit map handle. For metafile data, the return value is a metafile handle.

It is important that an application use the WinCloseClipbrd function to close the clipboard as soon as possible so that other applications can access it.