When I try to copy and paste and item from Email, Word, Excel or any application I get the following message: Cannot empty clipboard.

It seems to be related to Excel. Try this:

First thing to do is Clear items from the Office Clipboard. If the Microsoft Office Clipboard is not displayed in the task pane, click Office Clipboard on the Edit menu. On the Office Clipboard task pane, do one of the following: To clear all items, click Clear All .

Next thing is to switch off the clipboard show option. To do this, what you can do is to again display the Clipboard menu (select Office Clipboard from Edit Menu). And in the selection button "Options" at the bottom of the screen, select this particular option:
"Collect Without Showing Office Clipboard"