Clipboard problem in Excel 2016

Anonymous

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.

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous

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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255 additional answers

Anonymous

2018-11-16T18:41:47+00:00

I would assume that if the 'boss' of Microsoft knew of this frustrating issue then something would be done about it, and it would get fixed in no time.

This issue just goes to show how incompetent the Excel staff are. They should be ashamed of themselves, but clearly they are not. They still get their pay at the end of the week, so why do they care.

'And Windows keeps getting better' ..... I think not.

Shakes head in disbelief, and walks away into the sunset, with head down, yet again ....................

Steve
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Anonymous

2018-11-16T18:00:37+00:00

just read the microsoft team reply about error happening only once per instance... In my Excel book currently open, it just happened twice in the same book on consecutive attempts to move contents of one cell to another

Surprises me that MS feels satisfied with their answers, or better stated in quotation marks: "answers."
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Anonymous

2018-11-16T17:07:48+00:00

I can't even remember how long ago I started this chain, and I suffered with the problem for a long time before that...

Thought buying subscription service would enable the resolution to automatically integrate. No luck there.

Brand new computer, single installation of Office, persistent awkward message. Work now just includes pause interruptions like potholes in the road.
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Anonymous

2018-11-16T11:21:46+00:00

Surely explaining the error message protocol is not what users are asking for; we need a clipboard which works freely across and between the whole Office 365 suite. If a program such as ClipMate 7.3 can do that, it can't be beyond the programming experts at Microsoft to do the same. Apparently, this problem has persisted for multiple generations of MS Office. I would really appreciate its being solved.
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