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.

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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

2016-12-30T23:20:16+00:00

wish i had been so lucky. disabled same Radeon application as previous post, and had no positive result.

If it isn't windows 10, then how come i don't recall this on windows 7?
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Anonymous

2016-12-30T13:00:05+00:00

S O L U T I O N

It was all about AMD Radeon settings console which initiates a background process that causes a mess in Excel Clipboard. Killing this process immediately corrects clipboard copy/pasting**.**So this was even not about driver for graphic card. The best way is to disable this process at startup.

It could be that, on other machines, some other hardware related applications cause this problem. Anyways, I am sure that is not due to Excel nor due to Windows 10 process.
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Anonymous

2016-12-29T20:37:28+00:00

Can't agree more Steve. While trying to get a remote help from Microsoft, I've been asked to type a 6-digit code with absolutely no hint how to get it and where to find it. I've called Microsoft support office in my country and they have no clue how to provide help and what to do next. I wonder why Microsoft is paying their personnel for. And this issue is still actual, now for maybe 7 or 8 months!
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Anonymous

2016-12-29T18:57:22+00:00

If you bought a new car and had problems with it, would the manufacturer expect you to fix it yourself? Would you sit there for hours trying to fix it yourself? I think not.

The amount of hours that people are wasting 'fixing' or trying to overcome Microsoft problems is astronomical.

There are loads of problems with the 'new and improved' (sic) Windows 10. It is unbelievable.

Microsoft should be ashamed (or if they are, they don't seem to give a damn).

Steve
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