As of September 2024, about a month ago, I started getting this error message often when repeatedly copying and pasting in Excel.
clipboard error
Content could not be copied to the clipboard because it is being used by another application. You can paste content within this book, but it cannot be used by another application.
The phenomenon seems to come from a combination of Windows 11 and Excel365 or Excel2023. The reason we think the cause is this,
- Versioned Windows to 11, updated Windows 11.
- Excel versioned and updated in Windows 11.
And that there was a lot of information that this event occurred after operations such as the following,
There are also examples of inquiries coming my way.
- All the combinations are Windows 11 and Excel365 or 2023 patterns.
We believe that this phenomenon is probably the result of the combination of the two, given the current situation.
In this issue, we will introduce how to reproduce this error and the emergency measures now known.
Reproduce clipboard errors
I have a feeling that I often see this error when copying and pasting over and over again, so I tested to see if I could copy and paste over and over again and get the message to appear as targeted.
Specifically, with a cell selected, I hit the "C" button repeatedly while holding down the "Ctrl" button.
I prepared several cells with formulas as shown in the figure below and repeated the copying many times.
Then, after about 10 to 20 hits in a row, this error would often occur.
What can I do when I get a "Clipboard Error" message?
I have tried various patterns to see if I really can't paste when I get this error.
| Paste to | value pasting | form pasting | Mathematical Pasting |
|---|---|---|---|
| In the same sheet | symbol used as a placeholder (either because a number of other words could be used in that position or because of censorship) | symbol used as a placeholder (either because a number of other words could be used in that position or because of censorship) | symbol used as a placeholder (either because a number of other words could be used in that position or because of censorship) |
| Another sheet in the same book | symbol used as a placeholder (either because a number of other words could be used in that position or because of censorship) | symbol used as a placeholder (either because a number of other words could be used in that position or because of censorship) | symbol used as a placeholder (either because a number of other words could be used in that position or because of censorship) |
| Another Book | symbol used as a placeholder (either because a number of other words could be used in that position or because of censorship) | symbol used as a placeholder (either because a number of other words could be used in that position or because of censorship) | symbol used as a placeholder (either because a number of other words could be used in that position or because of censorship) |
| word | ×x-mark (used to indicate an incorrect answer in a test, etc.) | ×x-mark (used to indicate an incorrect answer in a test, etc.) | ×x-mark (used to indicate an incorrect answer in a test, etc.) |
| Browser Search Window | ×x-mark (used to indicate an incorrect answer in a test, etc.) | ×x-mark (used to indicate an incorrect answer in a test, etc.) | ×x-mark (used to indicate an incorrect answer in a test, etc.) |
As stated in the message,I can paste it on excel with no problem.It seems to be,Cannot be pasted in other applications(In this case, it was confirmed in Word, Edge, and Chrome. (In this case, we checked in Word, Edge and Chrome.)
However, if you paste in your browser after pasting from the "Paste Options" menu that appears by right-clicking on ExcelI was able to paste it.The following is a list of the most common problems with the "C" in the "C" column.
If you are copying and pasting manually, you can avoid the error situation without much trouble in this way, but if this error occurs during VBA execution, the code will stop and you will be in trouble.
In such cases, the following methods can be used to avoid this problem.
How to avoid clipboard errors when executing VBA
For example, consider the case where you want to copy the contents of cell "A1" to cell "A2".
Example of code that causes a clipboard error
Range("A1").Copy
Range("A2").Select
ActiveSheet.PasteThis one uses the clipboard, so if there is a clipboard conflict, an error will occur.
Therefore, this error will not occur if the clipboard is not used as shown below.
Example of code that does not generate a clipboard error
Cells(2, 1) = Cells(1, 1)If you run this code, you will see that
The contents of cell "A1" were properly displayed in cell "A2".
The code here is to make the value of cell "A2" the same as cell "A1", so there is no copying or pasting.
Therefore, if you do not use copy and paste in VBA and only use this method, you can avoid the phenomenon of errors in VBA.
Also, the code itself will be simpler and much faster to execute. Even if it is not related to this error display, we recommend that you use this method instead of copying and pasting in your VBA code.
Summary: Emergency measures when a clipboard error appears
It occurs about once every 20 times when copying many times in a row.
If the paste destination isIf Excel.and error messages without any problems.Can be pastedThe following is a list of the most common problems with the "C" in the "C" column.
To paste into an application other than Excel (Word, browser, etc.)
- Copy again
- Paste from right click on Excel
If only after doing either of the followingCan be pastedWe are confirming that.
This phenomenon seems to be caused by clipboard conflicts with other applications.
Therefore, closing other applications and leaving only Excel running will reduce the probability of conflicts.
If possible, the shortcut would be to identify the conflicting application, but we often hear that virus software is in conflict, and since this cannot be deactivated, we believe that the method introduced here is a reliable countermeasure.
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Comment
Hello.
I am also having trouble with this message while running VBA. I have looked and have not found any information on this.
So my question is the following part
"It appears to be a bug that comes from the combination of Windows 11 and Excel365 or Excel2023."
If you have any documents or websites that can provide the basis for this, please let us know.
ngosi acid
Thank you for your comment!
We don't want this to happen during VBA execution,
"The bug appears to come from a combination of Windows 11 and Excel365 or Excel2023." The reason for the statement in the
Versioned Windows to 11, updated Windows 11.
Excel versioned and updated in Windows 11.
The reason for this is that there was a lot of information that this event occurred after operations such as the following, and all the inquiries I received were about the combination of Windows 11 and Excel 365 or 2023. I did not describe it in detail in the article because it was based on a rule of thumb.
https://answers.microsoft.com/ja-jp/msoffice/forum/all/%E8%A7%A3%E6%B1%BA%E6%B8%88kb5030310%E9%81%A9/f4d8a31c-f136-4c55-a5b5-b5030e4b497a
https://answers.microsoft.com/ja-jp/msoffice/forum/all/excel2021%E3%81%A7%E3%82%B3%E3%83%94%E3%83%BC/0ae0f58c-617f-41d8-a133-0fee4a86dcfb
About the Solution
First of all, this error occurs when you try to paste into another application outside of Excel.
Since you mentioned that you are running VBA this time, I will answer on the assumption that the paste destination is Excel.
Method 1: Change to a copy method that does not use the clipboard.
This is probably how copy and paste works now.
Range("A1").Copy
Range("A2").Select
ActiveSheet.Paste
This one uses the clipboard, so if there is a clipboard conflict, an error will occur.
Therefore, this error will not occur if the clipboard is not used as shown below.
Cells(2, 1) = Cells(1, 1)
Method 2: Close other conflicting applications
This phenomenon seems to be caused by clipboard conflicts with other applications.
Therefore, closing other applications and leaving only Excel running will reduce the probability of conflicts.
If possible, the shortcut would be to identify the conflicting application, but we often hear that virus software is in conflict, and since this cannot be deactivated, I think Method 1 is a more reliable measure.
Method 3: Revert the Excel version
Since this is not a very practical method and writing about how to do it would be lengthy, we will omit the working method here.
Is the above the answer to your question?
We will revise the article according to your suggestion!
Thank you very much.
Manager.
Thank you for your response.
In the macro I am running on my end, copying to a cell is done by setting the value to Cells(1,1).
Copy has sheet copy.
I will try to find a means of not copying sheets in Copy.
Thank you for posting the link as well.
Since you seem to be trying various versions, etc., I will compare your environment with ours.
Thank you very much.