"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
    2018-12-27T04:22:51+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.

    I am using Office 365, and I get this error message repeatedly when I am doing cut and pastes in Excel.  It does not just happen once; it happens multiple times.   It also doesn't pop up with every cut and paste, but does so very often.  So, if some other app has the system clipboard locked, why would the message not come up every time I do a cut and paste?

    And FYI, I keep Windows 10 and Office updated at all times.

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-12-27T04:28:35+00:00

    I was able to work around this issue by disabling the Live Preview.

    In Excel, go to File / Options / General and uncheck Enable Live Preview.

    Windows 7 Pro

    Excel 2016

    Best regards,

    John

    I'm using Windows 10, Office 365, and I get this error constantly, though not consistently, when working in Excel.

    While this fix may work, I like and use the "Live Preview" option a lot, and do not want to disable it. 

    I want a real fix to the problem!

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-12-27T15:10:48+00:00

    I was able to work around this issue by disabling the Live Preview.

    In Excel, go to File / Options / General and uncheck Enable Live Preview.

    Windows 7 Pro

    Excel 2016

    Best regards,

    John

    I'm using Windows 10, Office 365, and I get this error constantly, though not consistently, when working in Excel.

    While this fix may work, I like and use the "Live Preview" option a lot, and do not want to disable it. 

    I want a real fix to the problem!

    This might work with windows 7 pro, it does not with windows 10 pro , office 365.

    I have had "Live Preview" unchecked for months now & has not worked.

    Microsoft, WHY don't you fix this???

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  4. Anonymous
    2019-01-03T15:35:35+00:00

    Unchecking "Enable Live Preview" does not stop Excel 2016 from displaying this message and I am not sure that the preview should be using the clipboard as it is only a read-only view of the selected file and often has nothing to do with what is being edited in the Excel workbook.

    Thanks

    Andy

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