"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
    2019-01-11T02:31:37+00:00

    For the love of Pete.. You all can stop "trying" nearly all the suggested solutions here.. **lol**

    If you have this issue it is MOST LIKELY because you have ANOTHER APPLICATION that is also writing to the clipboard. This dumb error is because Microsoft in it's infinite wisdom sees fit to warn you that this is happening before each and every (or every other) copy and paste in Excel.

    Why you may be wondering???

    This is because Microsoft in it's infinite wisdom thinks it knows better then us how to manage our software configurations on our own devices and decided to not give any of us an option to turn this stupid warning off.

    So your only other option is to disable the clipboard in whatever other application is writing to the clipboard and get your life back!!! (see image below) **lol**

    In my case the software culprit was Beyond Compare's awesome clipboard compare feature. Unfortunately, I finally had to disable the clipboard comparison feature in Beyond Compare in order to bring peace and freaking quiet to my life with Excel.

    That's my story.. But do keep trying all these other "fixes" that do not work and pulling out your hair.. **lol**

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  2. 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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  3. Anonymous
    2016-11-27T13:02:17+00:00

    Negative - I followed the link for the 'repair' against my better judgement knowing full well that office was installed on a freshly installed Windows 10 Professional image. The repair hung - I had to reboot, and reinstall from MS.

    And, voila - after spending several hours with the 'fix' - open Excel and - SAME clipboard error. I mean yikes - I had no idea how much I cut and paste in Excel until this issue appeared. And, for the most part, the cut and pastes are legit!~

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-12-26T22:36:52+00:00

    It does appear to possibly be an add-in issue.  I would look in the (well buried) add-ins list (go to File / Options / Add-ins and then select "COM Add-ins" from the bottom list and click Go.  Disable any that you don't know you need.  Do the same for Excel Add-ins.  Exit and restart Excel and see if the problem isn't gone (it was for me; it was apparently "Visual Studio Tools for Office - Design Time Adaptor for Excel" that was at least in some way contributing to this behavior because disabling that baby fixed it.  I don't plan on doing a lot of VS design in Excel, so nothing lost.

    YMMV.

    Good luck.

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