"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
    2017-06-06T08:30:46+00:00

    At long last something that actually seems to work.  I posted originally in November last year and this is the first work around that has worked for me. Thank You.

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-06-06T10:17:58+00:00

    Hi Mike Maxey

    Its great that you have clarified what this message means but it would save you and thousands+ of people time if messages like: 

     “There's a problem with the clipboard, but you can still paste your content within this workbook."

    could be more informative about the problem explaining the cause or even the solution.  e.g.

    "Another app has a lock on the clipboard but you can still paste your content within this workbook."

    Perhaps you could pass this on to your Usability team or UX designers.

    Thanks

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-06-22T16:57:37+00:00

    I have found, at least on my computer, that this is a dirty memory error. Restarting my machine fixes the problem. Super annoying that it constantly keeps cropping up. I can sometimes temporarily get around the problem by clicking on the format painter option multiple times (usually the third try does the trick, sometime it takes ten times. Very frustrated that this problem has been happening for years, literally, and Microsoft has chosen not to fix it.

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-06-27T23:30:43+00:00

    Turning off enable live preview worked for me In Excel click on file / Options in the general Tab disable life Preview

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