"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
    2016-11-28T15:48:47+00:00

    Thank you for getting back to us. Let's try to resolve the issue by accessing the Office clipboard. Please check out this article first to show the clipboard. This way, you can see how much items are in it. Then, you can clear your clipboard's contents by following the steps on this page.

    Please keep us updated about the status of the issue.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-12-06T04:21:20+00:00

    I get this same problem with Excel in Office 2016 Professional.  It even occurs when the clipboard is empty or contains only one small item (like a cell value).  Clearing the clipboard doesn't solve the problem.  I've been using Excel since October 2016, but this error popup has only started occurring within the few days.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-12-09T00:01:21+00:00

    Hi Nicholas,

    To help resolve your concern, let's run the Microsoft Office Configuration Analyzer Tool (OffCAT) to scan your PC. A Solution and Description will be provided in the report.

    Let us know how it goes.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-12-22T08:22:36+00:00

    Hi,

    I have the same problem. Did a repair, but this did not help.

    I have a fun reproduction for you:

    1. close all office programs
    2. create new excel sheet
    3. fill A1: 123, A2:123
    4. Select and move via drag and drop to other column (B1:B2) this works fine
    5. Close excel
    6. Open outlook
    7. Open new excel workbook
    8. fill A1: 123, A2:123
    9. Select and move via drag and drop to other column (B1:B2) the issue starts occurring
    10. Close Outlook
    11. pop back into excel, and move the cells around again. Now it works fine again.

    I'm running MS-Office ProPlus 365 on windows 10.

    I have used Microsoft Office Configuration Analyzer Tool (OffCAT), this did not show any problems

    Hope this helps

    cheers Niels

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