VBA Application.CutCopyMode = False – What is it?

VBA Application.CutCopyMode = False

If you’ve recorded macros while copying and pasting, you’ve probably seen the following line of code:

Application.CutCopyMode = False

This line of code “clears” the clipboard*. If you’ve copied an Excel cell, running this line of code will remove the animation around the copied cell:

CutCopyMode is an application-level property that indicates whether a Microsoft Office program (ex. Excel) is in Cut or Copy Mode.  While in copy (or cut) mode, Excel has something stored in it’s clipboard which can be pasted.

I’m not aware of a time when you would ever need to set Application.CutCopyMode to True. 

Avoiding CutCopyMode = False

You can usually avoid needing to set Application CutCopyMode = False by using VBA Copy+Paste best practices. As an example, the following line of code copies and pastes a cell in a single line, removing the need to set CutCopyMode to False:

Sub CopyPaste_OneLine()
    Range("a1").Copy Range("b1")
End Sub

Get Application.CutCopyMode Status

Occasionally, you might want to get the status of Application.CutCopyMode. Potentially to prevent errors while trying to Paste when nothing is in the clipboard. To get the status use the following code:

Sub Get_Application_CutCopyMode_Status()

    Select Case Application.CutCopyMode
        Case Is = xlCopy
            MsgBox "Copy Mode"
        Case Is = xlCut
            MsgBox "Cut Mode"
        Case Is = False
            MsgBox "Not in Cut or Copy mode"
    End Select
    
End Sub

*Application.CutCopyMode will only clear the Microsoft Office app (ex. Excel) clipboard. It will not clear Window’s clipboard. Click the link to learn more about how to clear Window’s clipboard using VBA.

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