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
    2017-08-12T16:01:05+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.

    Mike,

    I understand what you said, but I get the message every time I try to copy and past in a workbood!

    So, what did you mean by a change "so that this error message only shows once per Excel instance."

    The "once per instance" certainly isn't working for me!

    m

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-08-04T19:56:18+00:00

    When I use Microsoft Excel and only have one workbook open I have the copy/paste problem.

    I have tried a lot of the different things that have been posted without any of them working.

    I agree, it is very sad that Microsoft has billions of dollars and cannot fix this problem.

    Does Microsoft even believe that this problem exist??

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-08-04T06:17:38+00:00

    thanks to this thread, I see the problem:

    Microsoft Excel can't handle copy/paste when two workbooks are open. I coughs up a hairball like a sick cat.

    so sad will all those billions of dollars they can't fix this problem! :(

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-07-28T14:16:37+00:00

    The problem has not been solved. Please resolve. 

    How do I fix this problem? Every time I move content from one cell to another I receive an error message. This is making Excel unusable - I cannot work efficiently.

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