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Mac Forum / Applications / Excel / October 2007Is it just me...?
Hello: In every Mac application I've ever used (and I've been using Macs since 1984), it has always been that, once you copy something to the Clipboard, it stays there until you copy something else to replace it. You can paste it an endless number of times regardless of whatever else you've done since the last time you copied. In Excel, it seems that once you've pasted from the Clipboard into the cell, and move out of that cell, Excel "forgets" whatever was on the clipboard, and you cannot re-paste it; you have to re-copy it first (it's the same way on the Windoze version). I've seen some boneheaded "features" in Microsoft products before, but this has got to be the damn DUMBEST things I've yet bumped into from them, if it is not fixable (and I've seen them do some DUMB things...) Does anyone have a fix for this? Is it just me? Have I got something setting incorrectly set? If so, how do I correct it? I'm using a PPC Mac with OSX 10.4.10 and Excel 11.3.7. I appreciate anything anyone can offer! --Guy Thurston, OR Hi Guyu, I'm also using Excel 11.3.7 but can not reproduce the problem as you describe it. Excel behaves as expected. I don't know of a setting that would cause this to happen. Maybe if you delete the excel plist preference files it would help ( you'll lost any excel customizations). -Jim Quoting from "Guy Kudlemyer" <gwkuddles@comcast.net>, in article C326B2AA.21BE2%gwkuddles@comcast.net, on [DATE: > Hello: > [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > --Guy > Thurston, OR  SignatureJim Gordon Mac MVP MVPs are not Microsoft Employees MVP info http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/ > Does anyone have a fix for this? Is it just me? I think it's just you... Or at least, I haven't heard of anyone else having this problem. > Have I got something setting incorrectly set? If so, how do I correct > it? There's no setting that would override this. However, if you have any event macros running, they may do something that clears the clipboard. Haxies may also cause a problem, I suppose. Just confirming what John says - I have no problem at all copying & repeatedly pasting to as many locations as possible. Haxies (3rd party utilities) have *definitely* been known to interfere with clipboard functionality. Cutting, OTOH, is a different story - you can only paste _cut_ content once, which is by design. Try starting XL up while holding Shift & see if the problem persists. If so, try logging in while holding Shift to prevent login items from loading. If either of these suggestions work you've got another program mucking you up. HTH |:>) Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac On 10/1/07 10:35 PM, in article jemcgimpsey-6F35DA.20353301102007@msnews.microsoft.com, "JE McGimpsey" <jemcgimpsey@mvps.org> wrote: In article <C326B2AA.21BE2%gwkuddles@comcast.net>, Guy Kudlemyer <gwkuddles@comcast.net> wrote: > Does anyone have a fix for this? Is it just me? I think it's just you... Or at least, I haven't heard of anyone else having this problem. > Have I got something setting incorrectly set? If so, how do I correct > it? There's no setting that would override this. However, if you have any event macros running, they may do something that clears the clipboard. Haxies may also cause a problem, I suppose. > Just confirming what John says - I have no problem at all copying & > repeatedly pasting to as many locations as possible. Haxies (3rd party > utilities) have *definitely* been known to interfere with clipboard > functionality. I meant to say that I can copy and paste until my face turns blue, UNLESS I type something on the keyboard. That action seems to erase the Clipboard. If this is how Excel is supposed to work, I'd like to hear the convoluted logic that went into that decision (Bill, are you listening...?) There should also be a way to turn off that feature... Thanx for the help! > I meant to say that I can copy and paste until my face turns blue, UNLESS I > type something on the keyboard. That action seems to erase the Clipboard. If > this is how Excel is supposed to work, I'd like to hear the convoluted logic > that went into that decision (Bill, are you listening...?) There should also > be a way to turn off that feature... Still just you... > Hello: > [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > --Guy > Thurston, OR Are you copying a *cell*, pasting it somewhere, then typing something before wishing to paste the same cell again? In that instance, I think that's how Excel is "supposed" to work (presumably something to do with knowing which cell is the centre of attention). If you do all your pastes in succession without any other edits then you should be fine (assuming that the paste area does not overlap the copy area). If you're copying the *contents* of a cell (i.e. edit cell and copy some or all text from within the cell), then Excel should remember this and have the text available for multiple copying. Does this help? -- <>< > Are you copying a *cell*, pasting it somewhere, then typing something > before wishing to paste the same cell again? In that instance, I [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Does this help? Yes, it does help, and that's what I meant to say in the first place. Sorry 'bout that. Yes, if I copy, I can paste ad nauseum UNTIL I hit a character on the keyboard, then the Clipboard is emptied, and I cannot paste that particular text again until I've copied it again. So... This is how Excell is SUPPOSED to work? Why? It's dumb! Thanx for the help! > Yes, it does help, and that's what I meant to say in the first place. Sorry > 'bout that. Yes, if I copy, I can paste ad nauseum UNTIL I hit a character > on the keyboard, then the Clipboard is emptied, and I cannot paste that > particular text again until I've copied it again. > > So... This is how Excell is SUPPOSED to work? Why? It's dumb! There's something else going on. I can paste, then type in a cell, then paste again with absolutely no problem. The only thing typing does is turn off the marching ants if the copy was from XL cell(s). I certainly agree it WOULD be dumb, if in fact that was the way XL worked, but for me it works exactly as you want it to... I interpret this problem differently from the other responders: I assumed Guy was talking about pasting within Excel spreadsheets. It has always been the (weird) case that Excel doesn't use the system clipboard by default, so yes, withing Excel you can lose the contents of your last Copy operation. However, once you switch to a different application, MacOS puts the contents into its own clipboard, and that does not get lost. --- I just verified this w/ Excel-X on OSX 10.3.9 . > Hello: > [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > --Guy > Thurston, OR SignatureTeam EM to the rescue! mailto:carl@Team-EM.com http://www.team-em.com > so yes, withing Excel you can lose the contents of > your last Copy operation. However, once you switch to a different > application, MacOS puts the contents into its own clipboard, and that > does not get lost. --- I just verified this w/ Excel-X on OSX 10.3.9 . Can you document exactly how you get XL to "lose the contents of the last Copy operation"? I can't make it happen at all, using the same XL version as the OP... > In article <carl-263C28.17183002102...@comcast.dca.giganews.com>, > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > I can't make it happen at all, using the same XL version as the OP... Guy & other guys, I just want to point to a discussion in this forum in July 2006. http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.mac.office.excel/browse_thread/t hread/f2e4297cd564d56c/bae94ca7ed5b80b4?lnk=st&q=&rnum=1#bae94ca7ed5b80b4 (I hope the link survives the line feeds - is there a better way to do this?) Anyway, the problem was that if you copy a formula from a cell, you can paste it UNTIL you do something else (press a key, do something in a menu other than paste, sneeze), then in subsequent pastes, the "value" of the formula is pasted instead of the formula itself. So, the clipboard persists, but not as you'd expect. Does this describe the behavior that Guy is being subjected to? jpdphd > Anyway, the problem was that if you copy a formula from a cell, you > can paste it UNTIL you do something else (press a key, do something in [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > Does this describe the behavior that Guy is being subjected to? It doesn't seem to matter what is in the cell (text, formula, value, whatever.) If you copy it, you can paste it until you get a nosebleed, BUT if you do anything other than paste, the clipboard is wiped clean. If you copy, paste, type something in another cell, then try to paste again, you must re-copy again before you can paste again--All because you typed something between pastings. I'm attempting to do this at home on my Mac, but two other computers that I use at work, both Windozers, work exactly the same way. > > Anyway, the problem was that if you copy a formula from a cell, you > > can paste it UNTIL you do something else (press a key, do something in [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > I'm attempting to do this at home on my Mac, but two other computers that I > use at work, both Windozers, work exactly the same way. I expect that behavior in WinXL, since it uses a special Office clipboard that clears after copy operations are through. But MacXL has no special clipboard, so the only thing that can clear the clipboard is to load something else, presumably blank, but at a minimum, something that isn't applicable to being pasted into a cell. I don't remember whether you've said if you're running any event macros or haxies... On 10/4/07 12:42 AM, in article jemcgimpsey-8C6A08.22425103102007@msnews.microsoft.com, "JE McGimpsey" <jemcgimpsey@mvps.org> wrote: >>> > > Anyway, the problem was that if you copy a formula from a cell, you >>> > > can paste it UNTIL you do something else (press a key, do something in [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > > I don't remember whether you've said if you're running any event macros or haxies... Remember people, that Excel has worked with the clipboard a ³little differently² than most other apps since it was MultiPlan in day 1. That heritage has carried through all versions of excel to the present. Things are very different if you copy (or cut) an entire cell, vs. a portion (or all) of the cell¹s contents in the formula bar. Remember that if you are copying (or cutting) an entire cell, what gets copied is the cell¹s formula, format, conditional format, data validation, protection, etc. Not only that, but the cell¹s contents are not normally copied (or cut), but recalculated at the new location. A bunch of stuff that can¹t reliably be passed to another application on the clipboard. That¹s why the marching ants disappear to show you that that stuff is gone. Yes, it can be confusing and seem inconsistent when the cell contains only text. It will behave much more like you expect if you copy the contents from the formula bar. SignatureBob Greenblatt [MVP], Macintosh bobgreenblattATmsnDOTcom > Remember people, that Excel has worked with the clipboard a ³little > differently² than most other apps since it was MultiPlan in day 1. That's true, and it may be the genesis of the OP's problems. However, the "differently" is mostly related to what information is put on the clipboard, and what taken back out - almost all apps place multiple entries (text, formatted text, tagged text, hyperlinks, etc) in the clipboard, and what gets pasted depends on what information the receiving app thinks it can use. And XL is certainly unique in what it decides to paste. But I still don't think that I've ever seen XL *clear* the clipboard on its own. You're correct in your observation - bottom line is the clipboards work differently on Mac & PC just as you described. If your objective is to clear the clipboard on the Mac just press the esc key. SignatureHTH |:>) Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac >> Anyway, the problem was that if you copy a formula from a cell, you >> can paste it UNTIL you do something else (press a key, do something in [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > I > use at work, both Windozers, work exactly the same way. > If your objective is to clear the clipboard on the Mac just press the > esc key. ????? Does this actually work for you in any application? The only thing it does for me in XL is reset whether XL pastes the clipboard formula or the clipboard text. Well, quite frankly I was going from memory and if I hadn't been "pretty sure" I wouldn't have written it in... but you know how we old geezers get muddled up sometimes:-} Unfortunately I won't be back in paradise until later this evening so I can't test it, so I'll certainly defer to your findings:) SignatureRegards |:>) Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac >> If your objective is to clear the clipboard on the Mac just press the >> esc key. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > The only thing it does for me in XL is reset whether XL pastes the > clipboard formula or the clipboard text. > Well, quite frankly I was going from memory and if I hadn't been "pretty > sure" I wouldn't have written it in... but you know how we old geezers get > muddled up sometimes:-} Unfortunately I won't be back in paradise until > later this evening so I can't test it, so I'll certainly defer to your > findings:) Actually, I was being serious. The OP has been reporting something very different from my 20+ years of experience with Macs and XL. But believe it or not, I customize both Office and my System to a significant degree, so perhaps I've modified things enough to have forgotten what a stock installation does. I don't *think* that's what's happening, but I'm always willing to be proved wrong. OK - Here's what I'm finding [G5, 10.4.10, 11.3.7]: Select & copy a cell containing *text*; - Can paste repeatedly but - Typing elsewhere causes marquee to disappear but can keep pasting Select & copy a cell containing *a formula*; - Can paste formula repeatedly but - Typing causes paste to insert formula *result* & marquee disappears Esc *does* cause the marquee to disappear but *doesn't* clear the clipboard. I was in error previously simply because I have been deceived all these years & just never noticed the difference - I just assumed that the clipboard got cleared because the marquee vanished just like in PC XL:>} Regards |:>) Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac On 10/4/07 12:19 PM, in article jemcgimpsey-F19D8C.10191104102007@msnews.microsoft.com, "JE McGimpsey" <jemcgimpsey@mvps.org> wrote: In article <#MLKp7pBIHA.3940@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl>, "CyberTaz" <typegeneraltaz1ATcomcastdotnet> wrote: > Well, quite frankly I was going from memory and if I hadn't been "pretty > sure" I wouldn't have written it in... but you know how we old geezers get > muddled up sometimes:-} Unfortunately I won't be back in paradise until > later this evening so I can't test it, so I'll certainly defer to your > findings:) Actually, I was being serious. The OP has been reporting something very different from my 20+ years of experience with Macs and XL. But believe it or not, I customize both Office and my System to a significant degree, so perhaps I've modified things enough to have forgotten what a stock installation does. I don't *think* that's what's happening, but I'm always willing to be proved wrong. > > so yes, withing Excel you can lose the contents of > > your last Copy operation. However, once you switch to a different [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > I can't make it happen at all, using the same XL version as the OP... Typically, inside Excel, the moment you take some action such as hitting <ESC> or editing the contents of any cell, the "marching ants" go away and the excel-clipboard (for lack of a better term) no longer has content. This may not be the way Office2004 works but I don't have one handy to check at the moment. SignatureTeam EM to the rescue! mailto:carl@Team-EM.com http://www.team-em.com > Typically, inside Excel, the moment you take some action such as > hitting <ESC> or editing the contents of any cell, the "marching ants" > go away and the excel-clipboard (for lack of a better term) no longer > has content. > This may not be the way Office2004 works but I don't have one handy to > check at the moment. It's not the way MacXL has ever worked. For MacXL, there isn't any "excel-clipboard", and never has been. The only clipboard is the system clipboard. So the marching ants go away, but one and only clipboard isn't cleared. I've had to deal with this for years - many of my clients want MacXL to work the way WinXL does - it requires that you load a blank data object into the clipboard, a bit of a PITA. |
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