How do I get rid of the cannot empty the clipboard error

Question

Right now  I m getting it in Excel 2007  but I ve gotten the same error in pretty much every version of Excel I ve used since 97   The only discernable similarity is that happens on my office PC   It s never bothered me on my home PC   In Excel 2003  I was able to mess around in the clipboard options until it went away   In 2007  though  the options seem to be seriously limited and generally useless   Google wasn t much help  either

User · Answer

I copied a picture  instead of text  that I had in my excel 2007 file and that solved the problem for me  The picture copied to the  then empty  clipboard  I could then copy cells normally even after clearing the clipboard of the picture  I think a graph object should also do the trick

User · Answer

Good answers by Paul Simon and Steve Homer  I shut down team viewer and that did the trick  Skype or other programs may trigger the same glitch  but in this instance  I recalled the problem occurred when I tried to cut n paste a 2MB file from remote system through windows right click rather than using  File Transfer function in TV  An error message appeared  then the problem with Excel   Cannot empty clipboard  message   This problem occurs when you are working on a remote system  After copying and pasting a huge amount of data it shows the error  I have found the solution to this problem    Go to remote systems task manager and perform the following task   Go to Task Manager   Processes Look for  rdpclip exe  End that process  Your problem will be solved

User · Answer

Try http   support microsoft com kb 207438 which will work for 2007 if you follow v12 0 in the registry

User · Answer

I have seen various answers which say when I uninstalled this or that it worked  I think that the uninstall is probably just sorting out an issue in the registry  rather it being an issue with the particular application that is being uninstalled   I have also seen cases of people saying kill the RDP task but I don t have that and I still have the error   I have seen cases of people saying clear the clipboard in Excel  but that doesn t work for me - nor does changing the settings in the Clipboard    I believe that the issue is that an application has a lock on the clipboard and that application is not releasing it  The clipboard is a shared resource  so that implies that each application has to get a lock on it before changing it and then release the lock once it has completed the change  however  it looks like sometimes the lock is not released   I found that the following cured it  Close down all MS applications including IE and Outlook  Check Task Manager processes to make sure that they are all gone   Then restart the application where you had the Copy and Paste issue and it will probably then work   Regards  Paul Simon

User · Answer

I got rid of the problem by unchecking the option for  Alert before overwriting cells  in Excel options  I m using Excel 2007

User · Answer

If you can t find the clipboard  then close that excel sheet and reopen it again  This will solve your problem

User · Answer

Are you running Skype   This has been the best solution I have found to get rid of the  cannot empty the clipboard error  in Excel 2007  amp  2010   Delete the Skype add-on in IE and or Firefox and good-bye annoying error   In reply to rjacobs7 post on February 28  2011   Cannot clear clipboard error - Windows 7  Excel 2010 -  This error occurs nearly every time a drag and drop of cell contents is attempted   I ve had this same error over the past 10 years on older computers and older versions of Windows and Office   It has now reoccurred with a new laptop running Windows 7 64 bit and Office 2010   The issue can be replicated only if a browser - IE or Firefox - is open at the same time that Excel is open   Having Word and or Outlook open at the same time will not cause the problem to occur unless a browser is also open   This error is extremely irritating and no solutions from Microsoft or other posts on this issue resolve it   I have a solution - at least for me   Delete the Skype add-in in IE and Firefox and the  cannot clear clipboard  error after a drag and drop goes away when IE and or Firefox are running   Apparently some sort of memory-management issue with Skype  Office and the browsers

User · Answer

I ve read lots of blogs on this subject going back to 2005    I m sure that Paul Simon is right  see his submission to this thread  and it s a question of finding which program on your machine is locking the clipboard  I do not run the programs listed in various solutons suggested  eg on Microsoft website  nor am I in a networked or virtual environment so for me those aren t the locking programs  but might be for you   Similarly I don t have the RDP task going in my processes  For me the locking program is the Skype Add-in   I am not a sophisticated user and am scared of altering my registry so didn t want to go there   I have now been able to reproduce accurately the  cannot clear the clipboard  message by turning on and off the skype addins in internet explorer  This is easy for amateurs to do and might be one of the more common clipboard locking programs   I first confirmed that I can turn on off the problem in Excel by opening closing internet explorer   Then I disabled the skype addins   Internet Explorer  Tools menu --  Internet Options   Programs Tab   Manage Add-ons button  Toolbars and Extensions selected in panel on left - scroll down to find skype add ons  Press Disable button    NB have to restart Internet explorer before this works        4 days later     it s still working

User · Answer

I found this advice      There are a few steps to solve your   problem        First thing to do is Clear items from   the Office Clipboard  If the Microsoft   Office Clipboard is not displayed in   the task pane  click Office Clipboard   on the Edit menu  On the Office   Clipboard task pane  do one of the   following  To clear all items  click   Clear All         Next thing is to switch off the   clipboard show option  To do this    what you can do is to again display   the Clipboard menu  select Office   Clipboard from Edit Menu   And in the   selection button  Options  at the   bottom of the screen  select this   particular option   Collect Without   Showing Office Clipboard       and now  you are relieved of the bug       Hope this helps    here   I have the problem  but it s sporadic   I just tried the technique  and I don t see the problem  but since it s sporadic I won t know for a while if it s gone for good

User · Answer

check this tip  worked for here http   mobeer blogspot com 2009 01 excel-2007-cannot-empty-clipboard html      This might save somebody some time and headaches if google picks it   up  I was getting a  Cannot empty the Clipboard  error every time I   moved cells around in Excel - eventually I mucked around with the   settings and made it go away  Here s how  In the excel main menu    glass globe w logo   click Excel options  then Advanced  then turn   off  Show paste options buttons       How exciting was this as my first post of the year       Update  I still haven t found a permanent solution but I found another   thing that seems to help  In Excel 2007  from the  home  tab  the   first thing on the left is the clipboard tool panel  Expand the panel   to view the clipboard and in the clipboard you might find  cannot   empty clipboard  as an entry  Empty the clipboard  keep the panel open   for a second or two while you do a few cut and pastes drags etc  and   then the bogey seems to go away       I call this the cable dance because back in the day I had a printer   that only worked if you unplugged the cable  shook it out and plugged   it back in

[excel] How do I get rid of the "cannot empty the clipboard" error?

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