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

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.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
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.

Was this answer helpful?

70+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

255 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2017-07-05T09:23:18+00:00

    **** ....

    this error happens not just once per instrance it happens constantly .. FIX IT PLEASE IT IS ANOYING

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2017-07-04T22:14:39+00:00

    Check my reply a few above yours. I was "convinced" I had changed nothing on my machine that could have impacted Excel drag/drop.  Yet I did find that adding Beyond Compare to my machine was what caused Excel to begin miss-behaving.

    Look for any tools in your application suite that might monitor the clipboard and then try to disable it to see if your problem in Excel goes away. I was able to do this with Beyond Compare without losing anything important to me and I needed Excel drag/drop more.

    Now, I used the words "caused Excel" above purposefully, with the following caveat. Excel did not miss-behave before I put Beyond Compare on and it began behaving again when I told Beyond Compare not to compare the clipboard (as it was the one actively scanning the clipboard). This does NOT mean that I think Beyond Compare is the "wrong" party. No other Windows application (and I have quite a few) miss-behaved with Beyond Compare doing clipboard monitoring -- only Excel. So I still believe Excel has a "fix" to do -- but apparently we will be waiting a long time as this has been around for a very long time already.

    Fred

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2017-07-04T21:37:37+00:00

    This problem "there is a problem with the clipboard, but you can still paste your content within this workbook" has just started happening on my PC.  Everything has been fine for the last three weeks (after I set-up the new PC and installed Office).  I have not added or altered anything in the set-up since but suddenly I am getting this error message every time I try to drag cell content around.  Using CTRL+C and CTRL+V does not give the error message, but each cell drag does.  Very annoying.

    Why?

    Cutting and pasting between all other programs, or within them work fine.  Just the problem with Excel.  So if as MS suggest problem is due to "outside" influences then why is it just Excel that complains?

    It really slows down productivity.

    Hoping for a fix real soon.

    Clive

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2017-06-25T16:29:17+00:00

    I am having a similar problem with the clipboard and it happens almost every time I cut and paste. It is very annoying. I am not using any other application.  

    The message is "there is a problem with the clipboard, but you can still paste your content within this workbook"

      I was using the Matlab extension for Excel on this machine.  

    Should I uninstall matlab and / or not use the excel extension?  

    What is the problem with the clipboard? 

    David

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments