How to Fix Cannot empty the Clipboard in Excel issue

Clipboard have made our lives easier using MS Excel. But, what if you want to remove unnecessary stuffs from the Excel clipboard and you are unable to do it? Don’t worry. Usually, the native Windows clipboard is used by all the applications, so, there is a chance that another application is obstructing you from clearing the clipboard.

Fix 1 – Terminate other programs with access to Clipboard

Windows Clipboard can be used by almost all the processing apps like Word, Excel, HTML writer, etc. So, initially you should terminate all the programs that you are using (except Excel). You can manually close these apps directly. Or, you can open Task Manager using Ctrl,Shift and Esc and kill those apps from there.

Fix 2 – Empty the Clipboard manually

You have to empty the Clipboard directly from MS Excel.

Step 1 – Launch Excel, if you have closed it.

Step 2 – After opening it, open “Home“.

Step 3 –  You will find the Clipboard tab just under the first menu. Click that expand sign to expand it.

Step 4 – Then, tap “Clear all” to clear the Clipboard items.



 

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This will clear all the cell data that you have copied. This way, you can easily clear the Clipboard items in Excel.

 

Fix 3 – Unlatch the Clipboard from Excel

This procedure has worked for many users and should help you resolve the issue.

Step 1 – After opening Excel, tap “File” on the menu bar. Then, tap “Options“.

 

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Step 2 – Select “Advanced” from the left-hand pane.

Step 3 – Go to the Cut, copy, and paste section. Make sure to uncheck the “Show Paste Options button when content is pasted” feature.

Step 4 – Tap “OK” to save this change.

 

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Exit Excel after this. Make sure to exit all the Microsoft applications as well.

Step 5 – Write “cmd” in the search box.

Step 6 – Next, right-tap the “Command Prompt”. Next tap “Run as administrator”.

 

cmd run as admin min 1

 

Step 7 – Paste this line and hit Enter.

echo off | clip

 

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Now, open Excel and try to empty the Excel clipboard once more and test.

 

Fix 4 – Turn off all Excel add-ins

Turning off all the Excel add-ins should help you fix it.

Step 1 – After launching Excel, tap “File” and click “Options“.

 

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Step 2 – On the Excel Options page, head on to the “Add-ins”.

Step 3 – Next, set the “Manage:” to “Excel Add-ins“. Then, tap “Go” to proceed.

 

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Step 4 – All the add-ins will appear here. Uncheck everything here.

Step 5 – Then, tap “OK” to save the change.

 

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Step 6 – Coming back to the main page, tap “OK“.

 



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After disabling all the add-ins, check if this works.

 

Fix 5 – Run Excel in Safe mode

Run the Excel in Safe Mode. This way no external plug-ins, extensions will be in the way of Excel. Check if this works.

Step 1 – Call upon a Run box, using the Win key and the R keys together.

Step 2 – Then, paste this into the blank box. Next, click “OK“.

excel /safe

 

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This will start Excel is Safe Mode. Now, try to clear the clipboard again and check if this works.

 

Fix 6 – Uninstall any new extensions or plug-ins you have installed

Have you recently installed a new plug in or a new extension in Edge or any the browser or any other program. Some users, after sideloading a new extension or plug in has reported of witnessing this issue. If that’s the case, remove that extension and try to empty the clipboard history again.