Summary

When you close a Microsoft Excel workbook, there is no setting to prevent you from receiving a warning message that prompts you to save or delete information from the Clipboard. This article explains why this warning message occurs and how to prevent it by using a Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications macro.

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Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support professionals can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact a Microsoft Certified Partner or Microsoft Advisory Services. For more information, visit these Microsoft Web sites:Microsoft Certified Partners - https://partner.microsoft.com/global/30000104Microsoft Advisory Services - http://support.microsoft.com/gp/advisoryserviceFor more information about the support options that are available and about how to contact Microsoft, visit the following Microsoft Web site:http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;CNTACTMSWhen you cut or copy cells in Excel, the range of those cells is surrounded by a moving border. The moving border indicates that you are in Cut or Copy mode. The Clipboard warning message appears when all of the following conditions are true:

  • You are in Cut or Copy mode.

  • You have 101 or more cells selected.

  • You close the workbook, or you quit Excel, thereby forcing the workbook to close.

These conditions generate a warning message similar to the following:

There is a large amount of information on the Clipboard. Do you want to be able to paste this information into another program later?There are several methods for preventing the display of this warning message. The quickest manual method is to press the ESC key just before you close the workbook. In an automated scenario that uses a Visual Basic for Applications macro to cut or copy cells, you may not consider it an acceptable option to press the ESC key to prevent the warning. In that case, use any of the following programmatic methods to prevent the warning.

Method 1: Copy A Single Cell

If you are using Visual Basic for Applications macro to cut or copy cells, insert the following line immediately before the line that closes the workbook:

ActiveSheet.Range("A1").Copy

The warning message is not displayed if the Clipboard contains 100 or fewer cells.

Method 2: Exit from CutCopyMode

If you are using Visual Basic for Applications macro to cut or copy cells, insert the following line immediately before the line that closes the workbook

workbook.Application.CutCopyMode = False

where "workbook" is your workbook object.NOTE: By setting CutCopyMode to True or False, Excel may cancel Cut or Copy mode.

Method 3: Save the Workbook

If you are using Visual Basic for Applications macro to cut or copy cells, insert the following line immediately before the line that closes the workbook

workbook.Save

where "workbook" is your workbook object. When you save a workbook, Excel is no longer in Cut or Copy mode.

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