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
    2018-02-23T16:14:12+00:00

    I posted input to this about a year ago -- just refreshing for the folks who visited here recently.

    While we wait for Microsoft to address this (I think we will be waiting a long time), I have found a solution to "my" instance of this. I say "my" because it could be different for others -- but the root cause will probably be similar.

    I use Beyond Compare to conduct file/folder comparisons. This program has a feature to "monitor the clipboard." Beyond Compare's monitoring of the clipboard causes Excel to misbehave as described in this thread. I do not believe this is Beyond Compare's fault -- there are other clipboard monitoring programs that cause the same problem with Excel as evidenced in this thread. 

    The trick is to find the one that you are using (It seems Outlook is a frequent one as is Beyond Compare) -- the "trigger" program/service.

    Finding the "trigger" program is a trial and error process -- close everything and turn off any background services you can until Excel behaves. Then one by one bring other programs and services back until Excel misbehaves.

    Once you find the "trigger" program -- look for a feature within it to "turn off clipboard monitoring" -- Beyond Compare has this whereas I don't believe Outlook does.

    If you have the option to turn off monitoring, then doing that should solve the problem -- it did for me with Beyond Compare. I don't use Outlook.

    If you can't turn off the clipboard monitoring, then you will have to either shutdown the offending program when you are using Excel or switch to an alternative program that does not monitor the clipboard (e.g. move from Outlook to another mail client program). 

    Or you can continue to live with the frustrating behavior if it is not impacting you terribly -- I could not live with it.

    Fred

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-12-01T08:56:42+00:00

    If you really read all 193 posts you would have realized that Mike Maxey's post is not worth the electrons steaming it up your monitor.

    And you wouldn't answer directly to his post. Because he obviously doesn't care.

    And  you would have come to my post, explaining the cause of this message without reason.

    https://excel.uservoice.com/forums/304921-excel-for-windows-desktop-application/suggestions/18508126-remove-the-pointless-message-there-s-a-problem-wi

    So you can possibly figure out a workaround for yourself by changing the settings of some third party program.

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-11-29T22:23:09+00:00

    I was able to resolve in several steps:

    -Disable live preview in Options

    -Remove Lync/Skype add-ons from IE

    -Update Excel

    -Close other clipboard programs like clipx

    -Close Outlook

    Not sure which one was the culprit. You can also just hit the Esc key and ctrl+c it again.

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-10-13T10:14:19+00:00

                 as there are user who don't need the notification.

    As if there were users who actually need the notification ...

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