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
    2019-04-22T23:59:26+00:00

    I use Beyond Compare to conduct file/folder comparisons. This program has a feature to "monitor the clipboard." Beyond Compare's monitoring of the clipboard causes Excel to misbehave as described in this thread. I do not believe this is Beyond Compare's fault -- there are other clipboard monitoring programs that cause the same problem with Excel as evidenced in this thread. 

    Thank you very much! I've been struggling with this issue for months. Microsoft really needs to fix this! it takes out so much time while working in excel.

    I had beyond compare and after I closed it out, excel behaved normally.

    Thank you!

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-03-14T23:57:18+00:00

    This needs to be fixed properly.

    Not only was it still popping up every time, but with certain add-ins enabled IT MADE CELL SELECTION INVISIBLE!!!

    I couldn't see what cells were selected until I closed Excel and opened it again.  Then, when I dragged a cell and got the  "couldn't free up space on the Clipboard" prompt, the cell selection wasn't visible anymore.  Everything still works the same as before, I just can't tell what cells I have selected.

    This hasn't been fixed by trying to only show the prompt once, it's been made WORSE!

    ✅ Disable all the Excel add-ins: The invisible selection problem goes away.

    but the "couldn't free up space on the Clipboard" problem still happened every time.

    Now the "couldn't free up space on the Clipboard" prompt that appears every time I dragged a cell.

    What I found was that it would only happen when I had Notepad++ open.

    ✅Close Notepad++: No more prompt when I drag a cell in Excel.  One step further- Remove the "MultiClipboard" plugin for Notepad++, problem goes away with Notepad++ still open.

    Looks like the root cause (at least for my system) is the "MultiClipboard" plugin for Notepad++.

    It may be easy to blame other apps for accessing the clipboard in a weird way, but the problem appearing in Excel needs to be fixed in Excel.  Another app monitoring the clipboard shouldn't kill critical features of Excel. (Yes, copy/paste/drag are critical features.)

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-02-01T15:45:32+00:00

    I had almost exactly the same problem.

    Posted about it here:

    https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice\_excel-mso\_win10-mso\_o365b/excel-2016-theres-a-problem-with-the-clipboard-but/1a91af4c-edf6-486c-83ee-66616c42f88a

    I've realized for me the problem only occurs when I am remotely connected to another PC using either VNC or GoToMyPC.

    The error only occurs in Excel, and is frankly infuriating.

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  4. Anonymous
    2019-01-30T17:04:44+00:00

    I've been having this problem for years, going back at least to Excel 2013--maybe even earlier. Very frustrating, trying to get any work done.

    For what it's worth, I found a fix that works for me. The culprit was the Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking add-in for Excel. To disable it:

       File - Options - Add-ins - Manage: COM Add-ins - Go... and then uncheck "NatSpeak Excel Addin".

    If this doesn't work for you, disable other COM add-ins one by one, restart Excel, and see if it the problem is gone. Be sure to re-enable any innocent add-ins after you're done.

    As always, your mileage may vary. Please share any other add-ins you find that may be causing this problem.

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