I can hit esc to clear the clipboard from any sheet--and in any workbook.

I'm surprised that it didn't work for you.

" wrote:

On Feb 18, 4:03 pm, Dave Peterson wrote:
" wrote:
But I wonder: is there some way to tell Excel "forget about the
copied cells" before I right-click on the row?

Try hitting the escape key on the keyboard.

Well, I did. But, duh, the key (no pun intended) is to press Esc in
the correct worksheet, namely the worksheet where the cells were
copied from. I pressed Esc in the worksheet where I wanted to insert
rows. Frankly, at that point, I did not remember in which other
worksheet I had inadvertently copied cells. Klunk! Maybe I should
ask: how can I copy cells from a worksheet to the brain? ;-)

Anyway, thanks.

--

Dave Peterson