We could not copy the content to the Clipboard, it is in use by another application. You can still paste your content within this workbook but it will not be available in other applications.

Did my work-around work?

Thank you for confirming that this is a real problem in Excel, and possibly in Office and Windows, and not my imagination.

I frequently run data processing jobs in R that take several days to complete, so rebooting is not an option.

I fortunately have access to an M1 Mac, which, I have discovered, can complete the R analysis 10x faster than the Intel desktop. So some clouds have a silver lining...

I posted an elaborate workaround that has been working for me on December 7 on this thread.

The potential problem is that Excel 365 memory cache conflicts with the Windows memory cache. In my case Win 11.

I use several combination of RAM clearing regularly throughout the session.

First, disingage Autosave. I manually and constantly back up my file every three or four minutes. I found that if I have it on autosave, it uses excess memory and slows down Excel performance. Also, the synchronization between the Cloud and the Windows desktop system run amok in its coordination. Remember, you are really not working in real-time on the desktop. Clouds apps only give you a limited parameter since they are conservative virtual machines assigned to your account. Cloud apps are an inconvenience compared to actual apps running on the desktop itself, moreover, it is a convenient income-making/cost-saving program for the company. I'm not sure why people like to put up with this delivery model. It is what it is.

Second, if I simply notice even a slight lag or glitch in the session, I clear all memory data from RAM. This should be done regularly regardless during the session.

Procedure:

• Clear (Clear All) the Clipboard located on the Excel ribbon.
• Save file.
• Clear the RAM through my Advance System Care (ASC) third-party app. I keep its RAM module floating on my desktop to determine how much RAM the system is using at a time. If it exceeds 60%, I clear it along with the other clearing procedures I have listed here. There may be other third party apps that perform a similar RAM clearing function other than using ASC.
• I also doubledown by clicking on my Clear Clipboard icon shortcut I created using Windows cmd function, i.e. cmd: /c echo.|clip. This function can be entered in the Windows Run prompt. However you are better off creating a shortcut using %windir%\System32\cmd.exe /c “echo off | clip." Just Right-click on Desktop and click on New and then chooseShortcut from the context menu. In the "What item would you like to create a shortcut for?" section, copy and paste the cmd line. Click Next, give it a filename, then click Finish. This beats having to manually enter into cmd mode to clear memory regularly.
• Once the RAM value drops to the average percentage of your Windows sessions (mine amounts to 45% RAM average use), I continue working.

This workaround becomes habitual once you start doing it. This procedure is the only one I have found to work consistently. I still get rare, occassional hiccups, but at least it prevents freezing Excel.

One more thing... close apps you are not using and Browser tabs not in use to avoid the swell-up of Windows RAM in the background.

been having this issue for over a year now, probably much longer. annoying as all get out.

I did open a case with microsoft. only suggestion was a reinstall, which was a disaster, lost tons of settings, etc. Never again.

I google it every now and then to see if i can find a fix. nothing yet I see.

Yeah it sucks. But in my case it happens every other morning when I start using the computer. Plus the restart and all others on that drop down are grayed out so I have to press the button to shutdown then startup again. Bought this dell desktop and office 365 for Christmas 2 months ago. Fustrating, but at least it only happens every other morning.