"there's a problem with the clipboard, but you can still paste this content within this workbook"

Anonymous
2016-11-17T14:55:36+00:00

Perhaps someone could direct to a discussion where this has been tackled, but I keep getting this error "there's a problem with the clipboard, but you can still past this content within this workbook " with simple cut/copy and paste actions in Excel.  The error box pops up and an alert sounds (which is super annoying) after every paste.  I can still perform the actions however my selection is not highlighted and I can't be sure that I have selected the correct information until I do a paste in the same, or another, worksheet. I have Excel 2016 in Office 365 on a machine running Windows 10.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2017-02-28T16:18:43+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
    2018-11-04T19:39:37+00:00

    After copying and pasting, click in another cell and press escape.

    Then do the next copy and paste.

    It takes a little extra, but works.

    And it shows it is Excel that has the problem - it is trying to get the clipboard before releasing it, and that fails. Pressing escape cancels the clipboard use.

    Note this could be fixed by Excel remembering it has the clipboard, or the clipboard realizing that the same program is asking for it and allowing it to have the clipboard.

    Microsoft should pay me for telling them what is wrong.

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-11-04T16:38:29+00:00

    I find none of the above to be true within mu Office 365. 

    The Live preview has been unchecked and it makes no difference.

    I get the error message EVER TIME I cut or copy and paste.

    Please give me a way out, or I will get another clipboard!

    cdwhammer

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-10-31T17:17:08+00:00

    I was finally able to get rid of this extremely annoying message by installing a 3rd party clipboard manager.

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-10-20T16:02:21+00:00

    Live preview is unchecked. If Outlook is open, I still get the error message everytime I copy and paste.

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