# Microsoft Office Application Help - Excel Help forum > Excel General >  >  Cannot empty clipboard"

## MartinShort

Hi

I've had a scout around Microsoft's website and also Google without much success.  Does anyone know why Excel 2002 should periodically come out with the error message "Cannot Empty Clipboard" when dragging and dropping cell data.

Something's not quite right, but I can't put my finger on it.

Any thoughts anyone?

Thanks

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## jetted

Hi Martin

Here is a website that address the same problem, maybe it will help you out
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Appl..._20805544.html

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## MartinShort

Hi

The only problem with that website is that they insist on charging lots of money to view the solution...  :Frown: 

Thanks though

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## Jim May

How 'bout..
application.cutcopymode = False


"MartinShort" <MartinShort.2aklap_1152267033.1959@excelforum-nospam.com>
wrote in message
news:MartinShort.2aklap_1152267033.1959@excelforum-nospam.com:

> Hi
>
> The only problem with that website is that they insist on charging lots
> of money to view the solution...  :Frown: 
>
>
> --
> MartinShort
>
> Software Tester
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> MartinShort's Profile: http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=22034
> View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=558931

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## jetted

Hi

I don't what your talking about here is there solution;
Hi srej,
I see the same error on my Excel 2000 at home and Excel 2002 here at work. Usually, it occurs when I have an overlapping range (e.g. pasting A1:D5 to B1:E5). As long as I acknowledge the error message, it allows me to proceed.
Brad

Comment from srej 
Date: 11/21/2003 04:32PM PST
 Author Comment  


byundt,

thanks for responding, but I think my error is a little different.  The error message pops up even if I just copy one cell or even the format of a cell and it will not allow me to paste even after I click "OK" on the error message.  It's like it never makes it to the clipboard.

Comment from pkhari 
Date: 11/22/2003 01:41AM PST
 Comment  


Hi,

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.

Cheers
P.K.

Comment from pkhari 
Date: 11/22/2003 03:54AM PST
 Comment  


Hi

In case my above solution does not work, why dont you try an earlier solution given in the below linK:

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Appl..._10053878.html

Hope this helps

Cheers
P.K.

Comment from byundt 
Date: 11/22/2003 08:39AM PST
 Comment  


P.K.
The Edit menu in Excel 2000 does not expose the Clipboard object. I suspect you are using Excel 2002 or 2003.
Brad

Comment from srej 
Date: 11/24/2003 04:23PM PST
 Author Comment  


Yea, you can just use View > Toolbars > Clipboard to show the clipboard, but I don't see the options you are talking about ("Collect Without Showing Office Clipboard").  If you know how to do this on Excel 2000 please let me know so I can test it.

Administrative Comment from modulo 
Date: 12/29/2003 01:45PM PST
 Administrative Comment  


A request has been made in Community Support to close this question:

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Comm..._20836656.html

If there are no objections, a moderator will finalise this question after 72 hours by:

- PAQ-ing the question and refunding points 

Please leave any recommendations here.

modulo

Community Support Moderator
Experts Exchange

Accepted Answer from Computer101 
Date: 01/01/2004 08:07AM PST
Grade: A
 Accepted Answer  


PAQed, with points refunded (75)

Computer101
E-E Admin

Comment from roos01 
Date: 06/06/2004 08:30AM PDT
 Comment  


found a macro to empty the clipboard. not sure if it is for use of you.

Public Declare Function OpenClipboard Lib "user32" ( _
ByVal hwnd As Long) As Long
Public Declare Function CloseClipboard Lib "user32" () As Long
Public Declare Function EmptyClipboard Lib "user32" () As Long

Sub ClearClipboard()
    OpenClipboard (0&)
    EmptyClipboard
    CloseClipboard
End Sub

regards,
Jeroen

Comment from pkhari 
Date: 06/12/2004 03:57AM PDT
 Comment  


Hi all

Just found a good way in attempting to solve my own "Cannot empty the clipboard" error.

In all probability, when you have Getright or Flashget software installed in your machine, it is likely to cause this error. Open that software, and just uncheck the option "Monitor the clipboard", and come back to excel. Now it should be ok.

Just thought of sharing this with all of you.

Cheers
P.K.

Comment from roos01 
Date: 06/13/2004 10:39AM PDT
 Comment  


Thanks PK for sharing this. never thought about 3rd party software causing suchs problems also.


Comment from osg192 
Date: 02/07/2005 03:38PM PST
 Comment  


I am experiencing this problem too. In my situation it is being caused on the host PC by terminal services (remote desktop). Host is running Windows XP service pack 2.  Excel: Excel 2000 ver 9.0.3821 SR-1. 
RB

Comment from LoveToSpod 
Date: 10/03/2005 02:44AM PDT
 Comment  


I had this problem and the errors have now stopped. When I opened Excel, I was prompted to save or delete 'recovered files'. If I deferred dealing with this, and chose 'I wish to view these files later' I got the error. Cleardown these recovered files at Excel startup, by either saving or deleting them. This sorted the problem for me immediately. Hope this helps, 

LoveToSpod

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## MartinShort

Thanks for the notes.  It seems to be doing it intermittently today with no rhyme or reason as to when - Typical!!  :Mad:  

A few comments though:
I am definitely not running getright or flashget (in fact I was aware of this as a possible cause but had already discounted it in my case)Whilst the insertion of a macro into the start-up procedures for Excel is a possibility, surely this shouldn't be necessary - this is curing the symptom rather than addressing the cause!!I have tried the suggestion of checking the "Collect without showing the office clipboard" and haven't managed to form any opinions as to whether it's working or not.  If I get something more definitive, I'll report back here.In the meantime, I'd like to leave this open as I still feel that there must be someone out there who knows the reason *why* this is happening.  (Back to the cause rather than only addressing the symptoms!)

Many thanks to all who have responded so far

Martin

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## The BergerMan

I am using Microsoft's Virtual PC in a training environment.

All student computers in our Office 2003 course get a local copy of the same
original Virtual PC VHD (virtual hard drive) files.  These files have been
working for some time.  Beginning this week, everyone experienced the same
error being discussed in this thread.  Drag and Drop, format painting,
complex autofill with formatting, all present the "Cannot Empty Clip Board"
error, then complete successfully after pressing "OK".

I have attempted everything I can find here, or through Google, except for
the Terminal Services hotfix and nothing is addressing the problem.  It is
possible that Virtual PC is making the same RDP calls that seem to be causing
problems for Terminal Services, but I am not certain of this.

As a Mentor Instructor and Microsoft Certified Trainer for more than ten
years, I have had my share of frustrations, but the lack of support on this
issue is remarkable.

Both the host system and the Virtual PC are current on service patches,
hotfixes, etc.  I have repaired my installation of Office 2003, I have tried
many ways to clear the clipboard although it assures me that it is empty, I
have deleted files in the users profile, I am working with a "Microsoft Only"
image with no third-party add-ons.

Here is a kicker... the "dirty" instance of Excel 2003 on the host machine
works just fine, but the behavior of the application on the Virtual PC's
(who's source files are Read Only) changed this week!

Any thoughts would be vastly appreciated!

--
- William Berger
The BergerMan
Mentor Instructor - MCT


"MartinShort" wrote:

>
> Thanks for the notes.  It seems to be doing it intermittently today with
> no rhyme or reason as to when - Typical!!  :Mad: 
>
> A few comments though:
>
>
> - I am definitely _not_ running getright or flashget (in fact I was
>   aware of this as a possible cause but had already discounted it in my
>   case)
>
> - Whilst the insertion of a macro into the start-up procedures for
>   Excel is a possibility, surely this shouldn't be necessary - this is
>   curing the symptom rather than addressing the cause!!
>
> - I have tried the suggestion of checking the "Collect without
>   showing the office clipboard" and haven't managed to form any
>   opinions as to whether it's working or not.  If I get something more
>   definitive, I'll report back here.
>
> In the meantime, I'd like to leave this open as I still feel that there
> must be someone out there who knows the reason *-why-* this is
> happening.  (Back to the cause rather than only addressing the
> symptoms!)
>
> Many thanks to all who have responded so far
>
> Martin
>
>
> --
> MartinShort
>
> Software Tester
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> MartinShort's Profile: http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=22034
> View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=558931
>
>

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## MartinShort

Hi William

Are you saying you've applied or you haven't applied the hotfix as described in http://support.microsoft.com/?id=840872?

For me I do use the RDC XP download on a 2000 client and I use it for connecting to Win 2003 servers.

I think I need to try this one out without the fix and see if this is the cause.

Thanks for your comment

Martin

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## The BergerMan

Martin,

I have not yet applied the hotfix in
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=840872?.

From within the Virtual PC, I have connected to the Microsoft Update site
and installed all of the listed updates (working within VPC this took 3.5
hours!).

However, I was concerned with applying the untested fix listed above since
we are not actually involving Terminal Services and the Virtual PC setup used
to work.

This evening I will attempt the hot fix on a VPC with Undo Drives enabled.
This way I can roll back if it does not work.
--
- William Berger
The BergerMan
Mentor Instructor - MCT


"MartinShort" wrote:

>
> Hi William
>
> Are you saying you've applied or you haven't applied the hotfix as
> described in http://support.microsoft.com/?id=840872?
>
> For me I do use the RDC XP download on a 2000 client and I use it for
> connecting to Win 2003 servers.
>
> I think I need to try this one out without the fix and see if this is
> the cause.
>
> Thanks for your comment
>
> Martin
>
>
> --
> MartinShort
>
> Software Tester & Musician
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> MartinShort's Profile: http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=22034
> View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=558931
>
>

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## MartinShort

The bane of VPC - do let me know the results.  I use the products (mainly VMWare).

I have to say I wholeheartedly that I agree with your comment:





> I have had my share of frustrations, but the lack of support on this
> issue is remarkable



Thanks and good luck with the fix

Martin

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## jman1938

I was also receving this message, but I figured out why it was happening.  I was only getting the message when I was running UltraVNC.  I deduced that when copying and pasting Excel tries to empty the clipboard, but VNC has it locked.  I found two ways to correct this: don't use VNC and Excel at the same time if you don't want to see this error or disable clipboard transfer in VNC.  This solves the problem, but you cannot copy and paste between the local and remote machines in VNC.  Hope this helps.  JP

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## MartinShort

Hmmm.

I've also never heard of UltraVMC. However as I said before...I have installed RDC for Windows XP onto a Win2000 platform.

Food for thought.  Next time it starts playing up, I'll uninstall RDC off one of my boxes and see what happens next and post the results here.

Cheers
Martin

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## Joe_

Of all the Internet hits I've read regarding this problem, and notwithstanding numerous unheeded posts to MicroSoft help groups regarding this error (instead, each post seems to attract more people experiencing the same problem) this thread seems to voice the most comprehensive set of suggestions.

Nonetheless, none of the suggested fixes seems to address the problem. To wit:
 a) Microsoft seems only to recognize the problem as one relating to Terminal Server processes. Since I'm working standalone, I assume I am not using their terminal server and so this doesn't apply. Please let me know if MS inadvertently turns on terminal services processes when standalone apps are engaged.
 b) All suggested clipboard options (i.e., Clearing the Clipboard, checking "Collect Without Showing Office Clipboard") do not relieve the problem.
 c) Opening Word & Excel (a CPU intensive workaround) as outlined earlier in this thread does not work.
 d) Getright, flashget, Virtual PC, RDC, and VNC do not apply to my situation. I'm running none of these.

Simply speaking:
 a) I'm running XP on an up-to-date (all patches found/suggested by Microsoft have been dutifully applied) high memory computer. My version of Excel is part of the MS Professional Office Suite (as opposed to Small Business Edition) - provided by Dell Computer. I would not think this would be the source of this problem.
 b) Excel is up an running; sometimes Word; sometimes Outlook. 
 c) The problem is sporatic; does not usually occur immediately after I've restarted the OS, but when it does begin cannot be stopped except by Restart. Closing the application does not help; bringing up another file does not help.

The problem does not happen on other XP machines I've operated. (Nor does Excel on these machines come up with the "Getting Started" sidebar window - which I'd sorely like to not see automatically come up.) The problem is extremely disconcerting because it causes every cell drag/drop operation to be a two step process.

I would think that if the problem could be solved in a standalone situation that that solution might be the best direction from which to start to tackle the terminal/server/network situation.

Any suggestions would be greatly greatly appreciated.
Thanks

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## MartinShort

Hi Joe

I can't believe this post has attracted so much interest without a resolution - and is still live after a year.

As a test analyst, I spend a lot of time looking for repeatable patterns in the seemingly inexplicable, (ie What do you need to do to cause Excel to exhibit this behaviour on demand rather than in random intermittent moments) but this still has me stumped.  Discussing your post, a colleague of mine has made a couple of comments/questions:

1. What version of Office are you using 2002?  2003? 2007? other?

2. How many rows are you copying even if repeating this action until you hit a  threshold that starts it off?

It is possible that any of these could be a cause in some but not all situations.

My colleague also reckons that it is a Win2K/Office XP combination that causes it and migrating to Win2K/Office 2003 will cure it.  I know from your post that you are using XP, so this knocks this on the head unless there are multiple causes.

Does anyone else have any knowledge of how to force this to start?

Thanks
Martin

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## Joe_

Martin
Yes it is amazing. Having been a QA Programmer, Analyst, Manager, and Director (all, very underappreciated positions) .I have that same urge to look for repeatables as you. 

1. What version of Office are you using 2002? 2003? 2007? other? 
   Three separate computers:
      - Win2K: Excel 2000 - no problem
      - XP home edition: Excel 2003 - no problem
      - Dell Precision 690 (lots of memory): XP Professional: Excel 2003 & the problem.

2. How many rows are you copying even if repeating this action until you hit a threshold that starts it off?
   Although I use Excel for many things (employing forms, macros, etc.) I tend to use Excel spreadsheets as a way to jot down schedule information (currently tracking my dog's willingness to vomit and unwillingness to eat). This means I tend to drag/drop INDIVIDUAL CELLS a lot until the spreadsheet format falls into place. In other words it is NOT necessary to be copying/moving large cell matrices to get this to happen.
   Circumstantially speaking (not tested), the problem seems to come up after I execute one or more copy procedures in either Outlook (which comes up as a startup item) and/or Word. (I say this because I know their clipboard mechanisms are tied more closely than the clipboard all programs access.)

It is possible that any of these could be a cause in some but not all situations.

My colleague also reckons that it is a Win2K/Office XP combination that causes it and migrating to Win2K/Office 2003 will cure it. I know from your post that you are using XP, so this knocks this on the head unless there are multiple causes.
   When you say "Win2K/Office XP combination" I assume you mean some sort of networking, and as you say that is not an issue with me. 

p.s. I expect I'll upgrade to Office 2007 (NOT to Vista!) and suspect this will take care of the issue (the kind of "solution" I'm sure Microsoft appreciates).

p.p.s. By the way, two simple questions:
- How does one turn off the "Getting Started" sidebar that opens on the right side of the spreadsheet window when Excel is opened?
- Every time I call up Help, Excel automatically connects to "Microsoft Office Online" and I have to manually switch the search to "Offline Help". How do you make Offline Help the default?

Thanks

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## MartinShort

Joe 

I'll get shot for answering this in the wrong thread, but:

Options->General->ServiceOptions will give you the option to set your default as offline help.
Options->View (Startup Task Pane) will switch off the task pane.  You should find a tick box on the task pane that will do this automatically.

Martin

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## MartinShort

A major step forwards:

1. Open a remote desktop connection.
2. Copy a cell to the clipboard.
3. Now drag and drop the cell.  It will start to error frequently & intermittently.
4. Close down the RDC & it will after a one hiccup start to work normally again.

The first time I've managed to recreate this on demand.

For those who don't use RDC - I am still clueless!!

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## kprees

I've been searching for a fix to my issue for a good while this afternoon, and I found this thread useful to discovering my own solution. To clarify how this may assist you...

*I get a 'cannot empty clipboard' error within a remote session to an XP machine, when copying in Excel 2003, for example.*

This applies for users with remote sessions to XP clients (virtual or physical), using RDP, VMC, terminal services, etc.

The remote session is actually using the Clipboard of the machine which is being remoted FROM (host), not the machine you are remoted TO (target). However, when your Clipboard is full (i.e. 24 items) the clipboard can be emptied in the Host machine, but the Target machine does not see this for whatever reason (flag not written etc).

To get round this:

1. Disconnect the remote session (you don't have to log off, only disconnect)
2. Clear the clipboard on the host (in this example Open MSOffice, Ctrl+C x 2, then Clear All)
3. Reconnect to the remote session

You should be able to use copy within MSOffice again in the remote session.

Hope this helps some folks. Kind regards

Kevin

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## inquisitive3784

I being an IT support at client site, had to look after the issues the suers come up with. Lately, there are many users who are reporting with the same error the Thread has been talking about. I have found that a program by name "rdpclip.exe" which you can find it under the Process tab of the Task Manager, by closing this process, it is working! Hope it will be working for you people...  :Cool:  

Cheers

Santosh  :Smilie:

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