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
    2017-04-03T18:24:31+00:00

    I have experienced the clipboard error messages, but they do seem to go away after the first time.  They are irritating, but worse than that, over time it seems that the clipboard is somehow gobbling up all the memory and when I try to copy and paste it acts like I have nothing in the clipboard - that is it looks like it is copying but when I paste there is nothing there. If I continue to try this multiple times the whole program locks up with a continuous animated circle indicating some sort of processing is going on.  I have to go to task manager to shut down Excel.  When I re-open the file it works ok for a while but then it will start all over.  The only thing I have found that helps at all is to manually save the file after every 2nd or 3rd change, but even that does not always work.  I am also very tempted to try reverting to 2013.

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-03-21T20:31:44+00:00

    Agreed.

    This sounds like the NEVER EVER FIXED Windows 7 problem with File Explorer. If you set focus on a folder in the Explorer window, then often the focus will suddenly move away to another folder, because the program insists on refreshing the display, despite what you are in the middle of doing. Extremely annoying, and still not fixed.

    THIS EXCEL PROBLEM IS NOT GOING TO GET FIXED.

    Steve

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-03-20T23:18:31+00:00

    Hi Mike,

    I agree.  I moved data all around a spread sheet yesterday and got this irritating message at least a dozen times.  So whoever said it only pops up once per session hasn't actually used the program.

    I don't think ranting and raving does much good here but pretending that the problem is solved is much worse.  Each BS excuse for a solution just prolongs getting a real one.  Part of the reason it is taking so long.

    Gary

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-03-03T12:00:02+00:00

    Having just upgraded on our work machines to Office 2016 having been on 2013 before, I'm getting this message much too often, and as a heavy Excel user I would imagine that whilst some people would say that this message is informative and helpful in some casesmost of us would say that it's a real pain and slows work up quite a bit.  Is there a way to switch off this less than useful feature?

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