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

Anonymous
2020-04-08T18:30:07+00:00

I am using the Microsoft Office 365 Business desktop app, and as of this posting am running Windows 10 version 1903 (OS Build 18362.720) on this particular laptop. This problem has been witnessed across multiple computers, Windows 10 versions, Microsoft accounts, all while using the Office 365 app.

I track a lot of data in Excel and often copy cells from it and paste them into online forms, ETC. Within the last few weeks I have started getting a pop up when I try to copy a cell that says "There's a problem with the clipboard, but you can still paste this content within this workbook."

It does not seem to matter if the file is stored locally or not.

I have found that if I continue to press Ctrl+v 2 to 4 more times it usually at some point copies the data as it should, without the pop up, and allows me to paste it wherever I want.

I searched for an answer to what is going on and or if there is a solution, and found that people have been periodically having this problem for years, and but could not find a solution that worked despite a post on this site having over 20 pages of replies and over 1500 reports of having the same problem, before comments were locked due to the thread age.

I have tried repairing the app without success. I have tried updating Office, which did do an update but did not solve the problem. I've restarted the computer and Excel many times.

This is making use of Excel inefficient and annoying. I'm guessing it's only a matter of time before I and others I've spoken with that are experiencing the same thing, are not able to paste outside of the workbook at all. As is, I may as well just type everything again instead of bothering with the broken copy/paste feature.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-03-29T13:31:31+00:00

    Thank you.

    My clipboard history is already off. The issue is intermittent and everything still works with the work-around but it's annoying!

    Kimber

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-03-27T10:36:29+00:00

    hi

    for me it was disappeared after turning windows clipboard history (Windows logo + V) off

    setting > clipboard > clipboard history

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  3. Anonymous
    2022-02-23T11:41:09+00:00

    I have already turned off Clipboard History but still get the error. At least it only happens once after opening a workbook. Subsequent attempts to 'copy' work fine.

    I notice that recently the error message has become more informative. Instead of just reporting a "problem" with the clipboard, it says:
    "We could not copy the content to the clipboard, it is in use by another application. You can still paste the content within this workbook but it will not be available in other applications."

    This seems to fit the general consensus about the nature of the problem.

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-02-23T10:18:39+00:00

    I think the problem may come from the windows clipboard on windows 10.

    Try close the windows 10 clipboard history function(Windows + V shortcut is for that function) and try again. This way helps me get out of this mess.

    This issue comes out when I reorder the column with many data.

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  5. Anonymous
    2022-01-20T17:07:30+00:00

    I hope it sticks ... this error message is Excels' version of the "check engine " light on your car dashboard. Any number of things could trigger it again and again... "Clipboard" seems to be a standalone program that any application can use to hold data to be pasted later.

    To summarize other attempts:

    1. making sure clipboard history is OFF 

    Click on  windows icon bottom left  

    Open the gear icon and click on settings

    Should open up a new menu  “Windows Settings”

    Then in that  search  bar, type  clipboard

    Should open up a menu for the Clipboard program

    Look at the “Clipboard history”  option.

    If it is on , turn it off.

     2. Disable ALL LinkedIn features ( in Word, Excel ,  powerpoint  and Outlook ) as you described for Excel. each has a Linkedin thing

    1. disable Live Preview in Excel
    2. There may be other programs running in the background that try to use Clipboard and trigger this error message ... ( google browser ? ) or maybe something copied from a live Website that is sending updates to the clipboard ? )

    PS:

    ( The check engine light in my truck cost $300+ to fix and each time and it's always something different )

    ouch you're right , it didn't stick, I will follow you again as always!! and I will come back later with the outcome.

    Thanks a lot

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