What is clipboard?

[dorian86]

What is the excel clipboard?

How can I delete it's cache contents? Sometimes a screen pops up to prompt me to do so.

Thanks.

[Paul]

The Excel clipboard is where anything you copy or cut (CTRL+C, CTRL+X, Edit->Copy, Edit->Cut, etc.) is stored so it can be pasted to another location. Occasionally if you perform a copy/cut on a large amount of data Excel will ask if you want to keep that data in memory after exiting Excel - usually you'd answer no and it goes away.

To clear the clipboard manually, click on the View menu and select Task Pane. In the Task Pane click the small drop-down arrow at the top and select Clipboard from the list. Once the clipboard task pane is showing, click the Clear All button.

[harrywaldron]

Adding to Paul's excellent comments ... Yes, it's absolutely Safe to remove clipboard entries that are caused by copying ranges of cells or other items in Excel. Usually, the clipboard notice pop-ups the 2nd time you copy, while the contents of the 1st copy process are being held in the clipboard area.

It's actually a good practice, as it frees up valuable memory and space that is being consumed by this resource (esp. if you no longer have a use for this). Even if you deleted a range you might need later, simply copying it again places it back out in the clipboard area.

[dorian86]

I followed your instruction on locating the clipboard but could not see it. I have the newest version of excel so maybe you were referring to a previous version?

thanks