Clipboard problem in Excel 2016

Anonymous
2016-04-16T23:39:19+00:00

I am running Excel 2016 on a Windows 10 Machine.

When I copy a cell (or cut a cell, or move a cell) I get one of two error messages:

"Cannot open the Clipboard"

"We couldn't free up space on the Clipboard.  Another program might be using it right now." 

I am then able to successfully paste what Excel told me it could not copy.  To restate for clarity...Excel throws error messages, but I am able to successfully copy and paste.

The problem is that it throws the error messages every single time I try and copy or cut or whatever.

Things I have tried:

I've ensured all other programs are not running (or using the clip board)

I've cleared the %temp% folder

I've cleared the Clipboard within Excel

Word does not have this problem...

Please help.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2017-02-28T16:18:02+00:00

Hello,

I have an update on this error dialog: “There's a problem with the clipboard, but you can still paste your content within this workbook."

When Excel shows this dialog after a copy (CTRL+C) action, it means that another app has a lock on the system clipboard.  In this situation you can still paste within Excel.  However you cannot paste to another app like Word or Outlook which uses the clipboard.

Last year we made some improvements to Office365 users so that this error message only shows once per Excel instance.  This is based on customer feedback - the design change prevents it popping up multiple successive times when the clipboard is locked.  We have also considered never showing the error dialog, but there was user feedback that this message is informative and helpful in some cases. 

We hope this helps shed some light on this error message.  For any design suggestions or new ideas on improving the Excel copy-paste experience, please post to Excel UserVoice.

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-06-06T05:23:33+00:00

    Let's not forget that it's not just an annoyance that there is a message that pops up warning us about the problem, it's the long delay between the cut action and the message itself. Disabling or even reducing the frequency of the message does nothing to fix the delay between the attempt to cut something and the multi-minute or longer delay that occurs while waiting for Excel to realize that a simple cut is not working. 

    I'll take the error message(s) and give you back the delay...but seriously Microsoft, DO SOMETHING!

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-06-06T01:22:35+00:00
    1. "However you cannot paste to another app like Word or Outlook which uses the clipboard." - yes you can.
    2. "the design change prevents it popping up multiple successive times when the clipboard is locked" - it occurs multiple times
    3. "We have also considered never showing the error dialog, but there was user feedback that this message is informative and helpful in some cases" - on the basis of 1 and 2 this is a bug, not a feature.  But if you can't fix it, I suggest including a check box on the dialog for "Do not show this message again."

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-05-30T23:41:31+00:00

    Hi,

    There are a lot of reasons that can cause this issue. To resolve your concern, we suggest that you repair your Excel 2016 application. To do so, you may check this link out.

    We appreciate it if you could get back to us and provide us your feedback.

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-04-26T04:29:10+00:00

    This does not happen only once per instance. I have to move a lot of data around and 8 out of 10 times I move data from one cell to another I get this error. I have updated to the latest version, and this is still an issue. 

    I would disagree that this is a helpful message.  It is NOT helpful in any way unless I can get the option to turn it off...completely! 

    I am more than angry at this point...it takes 10-15 seconds each time it occurs and I need to do this hundreds of times a day. Something that should take less than a second takes 50-100 times longer than it needs to. Add to that the fact that I need to respond to EVERY instance and it adds hours to work that should take minutes.

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