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

Anonymous

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.

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Anonymous

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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202 additional answers

Anonymous

2018-07-14T07:16:32+00:00
Do this:
1. Run clipbrd.exe (for win10, you need download it) and keep it running.
2. Clear excel's clipboard.
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Anonymous

2018-07-19T01:22:26+00:00

As described here

https://excel.uservoice.com/forums/304921-excel-for-windows-desktop-application/suggestions/18508126-remove-the-pointless-message-there-s-a-problem-wi

copying from the entry line (text edit line) will clear the error, and then you can copy and paste cells.

You don't need to paste - just select text there and copy it.

Then you can select and copy cells again.

This clearly is a bug or the error would occur either way.
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Anonymous

2018-07-20T01:50:34+00:00

I have now found that this occurs when I have an excel file with many sheets and when copy and paste from one sheet, and then try to copy from another sheet.

If I clear the selection before going to another sheet, it works - no problem.

It appears the other program locking the clipboard is Excel itself.

So, Microsoft, can you give me a free year of Office for finding your bug?
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Anonymous

2018-07-22T19:33:12+00:00

I totally agree that this is a problem that Microsoft needs to resolve. That said, waiting for them to solve anything that does not gererate additional revenue/earnings is not a viable solution at least for me.

Although, please note that my original reply indicated that this is a mitigation not a solution to the problem. Additionally, since I use Excel extensively most every day, I just leave one Excel file open at all times so I don't have to respond to the stupid assertion that there is something wrong with the clipboard.

I'm sorry my suggestion does not mitigate your problem in your environment. Fortunately for me it does work.
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