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

2016-12-29T12:56:11+00:00

No, I didn't get MS tech remote. As far as I could see, Microsoft crew is following this topic and they are working on this issue. I am not sure why does it take so long for them to solve it. Today I got tons of updates (especially for MS Office) and the problem still persists.

Now there is even more intriguing fact. My cousin is also using Windows 10 with MS Office 2013 and he is not experiencing clipboard problem?! This could only lead us to conclusion that no program/procedure rolling in the background of Windows 10 is causing problem. It could only be due to driver for Windows 10 which is specific for laptops experiencing this problem.

I will get back to this when I have more information. Thanks a lot for your help.

Yes, I will try MS remote help as well.
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Anonymous

2016-12-29T11:32:19+00:00

OK, I understand. I did not have a virgin environment. At the outset I added Zone Alarm (third party anti-virus) so was able to uninstall it (although I kept the exe file). In your case it seems to be back to square one. Have you been able to get a MS tech remote into your PC to help you explore the issue?

Regards,

Des
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Anonymous

2016-12-29T11:19:20+00:00

Thanks for the hint DesCarrol and Anthony208. But how exactly do I turn off Zone Alarm? Is it integrated in Windows 10? I repeat, I have absolutely no programs installed except first update of Windows 10, and of course, MS Office.
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Anonymous

2016-12-29T04:10:39+00:00

Very good analysis. It should have been done by MS by now.

If you have the opportunity I suggest you check out the Zone Alarm anti-virus link since all my problems on this issue disappeared when I deleted Zone Alarm.
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