Clipboard history (Win + V) not working with Microsoft Office apps

'm experiencing an issue with Windows clipboard history (Win + V) not showing copied content from Microsoft Office applications like Word and Excel.
Clipboard history works fine with other apps (e.g., Notepad, browsers, PDF readers), but not with any Office programs.

• Clipboard history is enabled (EnableClipboardHistory = 1 in Registry).
• The clipboard service (cbdhsvc) is running.
• I'm using the same Office 365 account on another laptop where the clipboard works perfectly.
• No Group Policies are restricting it, and Win + V works in other contexts.

I tried repairing Office, disabling clipboard options (though they don’t appear in the ribbon), checking registry keys, and restarting Windows Explorer — still no change.


How can I ensure that Office apps use the Windows clipboard and not their own isolated system?

Hi, welcome.

I am not sure that it’s possible to turn off the Office Clipboard and have Windows Clipboard take over.
Even if you could, Office may exclude certain formats (like rich text or embedded objects) from Windows clipboard history. So you may not have the same control over clipboard copies, as you do in Office.

Perhaps a 3rd party alternative. I couldn’t say if they will override the Office clipboards as I haven’t tried them.



.

Thanks a lot; I took the clipboard. It's useful.

antspants said:

Hi, welcome.

I am not sure that it’s possible to turn off the Office Clipboard and have Windows Clipboard take over.
Even if you could, Office may exclude certain formats (like rich text or embedded objects) from Windows clipboard history. So you may not have the same control over clipboard copies, as you do in Office.

Click to expand...

This is odd. I just upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 11, and I'm sure that in Windows 10 the Windows Clipboard worked regularly in Office. At least I've developed a reflex of using Win-V everywhere, including pasting things from non-Office apps into Office apps, and suddenly having to use the Office Clipboard in Word is extremely unfamiliar and awkward.

I don't know why MS would remove such a useful feature from an upgrade. Stranger things have happened, but I think if it had been truly removed there would have been enough of an outcry that I'd have heard about it. Am I hallucinating? Has nobody else had this ability and lost it?