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
    2017-12-14T10:27:39+00:00

    I get this clipboard problem too, BUT after seeing the error message Excel does not show me which cell I am in so becomes effectively useless.  I try clicking on a cell and the cell highlight is invisible.  Tabbing has the same effect.  I can see however that I am moving the cell pointer because if I paste then the data appears in the cell.  only cure at moment is save, close, reopen.  getting very frustrated.

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-11-30T20:11:03+00:00

    It did not work for me.

    None of the other things that people have posted work for me either.

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-11-30T10:41:34+00:00

    I'm pretty sure it was Lync/Skype add-ons from IE

    To my knowledge it is mostly something telphone-related.

    For more detailled information see my post from March 3rd on page 10 of this thread.

    And after hitting Esc ist is not even necessary to Ctrl+C it again. ...if hitting Esc 100 times a day is ever an option.

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-11-30T09:52:06+00:00

    I disabled "life preview" and the problem disappeared immediately.

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