asked on

Purposely empty the clipboard in Windows

Hello,

Occasionally when copy/pasting a large amount of data, I am interrupted with an error message saying:

"Cannot empty clipboard"

Is there any way in Windows (7) to force the clipboard to be emptied? I know that another pop up that occurs infrequently is something saying that:

"...there is a large amount of information on my clipboard..."

and offering me the option to save that or discard it.

What I am looking for is any possible way to empty the clipboard purposely rather than only when the system gives me the option.

Thanks

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Run5k

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Start Free Trial

Steve_Brady

ASKER

Thanks for the response:

Regarding the link you provided, the actual instructions provided say to use the following:

cmd /c “echo off | clip”

however, that is not effective -- but it is corrected in one of the comments to:

cmd.exe /c echo off | clip

which is effective.

Summary for my own reference ( and anyone else who is interested):

1) to create shortcut as desktop icon: right-click desktop > new > enter the following: cmd.exe /c echo off | clip > next > finish. (Change name to Clear Clipboard prn)

2) to change the shortcut icon: right-click Clear Clipboard icon > properties > change icon > enter the following: %SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll > click browse > select desired icon > click OK
(note: based on instructions, I clicked the browse button first then try to find %SystemRoot%\... but did not work. Hence, enter the %SystemRoot%\... first then click browse)