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

Question

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.

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

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

Answer 3

Super annoying.

I even recently reinstalled my software from the OS up through Office (Windows 10 Version 1607 for x64-based Systems (KB3200970), Office 365, v16.0.7369.2038) - this has been an issue all the way back to when I was an Windows 7 Home user and has been a source of constant, insane, annoyances.

Funny thing is, this only occurs in MS Excel and not in any other MS product (Word, PowerPoint, et.al.)

What is the fix?!?

Please make this go away!

D -

Answer 4

I get this same problem with Excel in Office 2016 Professional.  It even occurs when the clipboard is empty or contains only one small item (like a cell value).  Clearing the clipboard doesn't solve the problem.  I've been using Excel since October 2016, but this error popup has only started occurring within the few days.

Answer 5

HI Rachel,

Just tried the repair.  Exactly the same thing keeps happening. No change.

I can still use the copy and paste function, but what is selected is not highlighted so until I paste I can't be sure I have selected all that I need.  Unbelievably annoying!!

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Pedro