How to copy only plain text of cells in Excel?

Question

I am designing an Excel worksheet where the user will click a command button which copies a predetermined range of cells. The user would then paste the contents into a web a

Answer 1

To accomplish this, I will copy the selected cells to clipboard, save the clipboard to a text variable, and then copy this text back to clipboard.

Copy the following into a new module and then run the last sub:

'Handle 64-bit and 32-bit Office
#If VBA7 Then
  Private Declare PtrSafe Function GlobalUnlock Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hMem As LongPtr) As LongPtr
  Private Declare PtrSafe Function GlobalLock Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hMem As LongPtr) As LongPtr
  Private Declare PtrSafe Function GlobalAlloc Lib "kernel32" (ByVal wFlags As LongPtr, _
    ByVal dwBytes As LongPtr) As LongPtr
  Private Declare PtrSafe Function CloseClipboard Lib "user32" () As LongPtr
  Private Declare PtrSafe Function OpenClipboard Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As LongPtr) As LongPtr
  Private Declare PtrSafe Function EmptyClipboard Lib "user32" () As LongPtr
  Private Declare PtrSafe Function lstrcpy Lib "kernel32" (ByVal lpString1 As Any, _
    ByVal lpString2 As Any) As LongPtr
  Private Declare PtrSafe Function SetClipboardData Lib "user32" (ByVal wFormat As LongPtr, _
    ByVal hMem As LongPtr) As LongPtr
#Else
  Private Declare Function GlobalUnlock Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hMem As Long) As Long
  Private Declare Function GlobalLock Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hMem As Long) As Long
  Private Declare Function GlobalAlloc Lib "kernel32" (ByVal wFlags As Long, _
    ByVal dwBytes As Long) As Long
  Private Declare Function CloseClipboard Lib "user32" () As Long
  Private Declare Function OpenClipboard Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As Long) As Long
  Private Declare Function EmptyClipboard Lib "user32" () As Long
  Private Declare Function lstrcpy Lib "kernel32" (ByVal lpString1 As Any, _
    ByVal lpString2 As Any) As Long
Private Declare Function SetClipboardData Lib "user32" (ByVal wFormat _
    As Long, ByVal hMem As Long) As Long
#End If

Const GHND = &H42
Const CF_TEXT = 1
Const MAXSIZE = 4096

Function ClipBoard_SetData(MyString As String)
'PURPOSE: API function to copy text to clipboard
'SOURCE: www.msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ff192913.aspx
'Link: https://www.thespreadsheetguru.com/blog/2015/1/13/how-to-use-vba-code-to-copy-text-to-the-clipboard

#If VBA7 Then
  Dim hGlobalMemory As LongPtr, lpGlobalMemory As LongPtr
  Dim hClipMemory As LongPtr, x As LongPtr
#Else
  Dim hGlobalMemory As Long, lpGlobalMemory As Long
  Dim hClipMemory As Long, x As Long
#End If

'Allocate moveable global memory
  hGlobalMemory = GlobalAlloc(GHND, Len(MyString) + 1)

'Lock the block to get a far pointer to this memory.
  lpGlobalMemory = GlobalLock(hGlobalMemory)

'Copy the string to this global memory.
  lpGlobalMemory = lstrcpy(lpGlobalMemory, MyString)

'Unlock the memory.
  If GlobalUnlock(hGlobalMemory) <> 0 Then
    MsgBox "Could not unlock memory location. Copy aborted."
    GoTo OutOfHere2
  End If

'Open the Clipboard to copy data to.
  If OpenClipboard(0&) = 0 Then
    MsgBox "Could not open the Clipboard. Copy aborted."
    Exit Function
  End If

'Clear the Clipboard.
  x = EmptyClipboard()

'Copy the data to the Clipboard.
  hClipMemory = SetClipboardData(CF_TEXT, hGlobalMemory)

OutOfHere2:
  If CloseClipboard() = 0 Then
    MsgBox "Could not close Clipboard."
  End If

End Function

Function ClipBoard_GetData() As String
' Return the data in clipboard as text
' Source: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vba/access/concepts/windows-api/retrieve-information-from-the-clipboard
#If VBA7 Then
   Dim lpGlobalMemory As LongPtr, hClipMemory As LongPtr
   Dim lpClipMemory As LongPtr
   Dim RetVal As LongPtr
#Else
   Dim lpGlobalMemory As Long, hClipMemory As Long
   Dim lpClipMemory As Long
   Dim RetVal As Long
#End If
   Dim MyString As String
 
   If OpenClipboard(0&) = 0 Then
      MsgBox "Cannot open Clipboard. Another app. may have it open"
      Exit Function
   End If
          
   ' Obtain the handle to the global memory
   ' block that is referencing the text.
   hClipMemory = GetClipboardData(CF_TEXT)
   If IsNull(hClipMemory) Then
      MsgBox "Could not allocate memory"
      GoTo OutOfHere
   End If
 
   ' Lock Clipboard memory so we can reference
   ' the actual data string.
   lpClipMemory = GlobalLock(hClipMemory)
 
   If Not IsNull(lpClipMemory) Then
      If lpClipMemory <> 0 Then
        MyString = Space$(MAXSIZE)
        RetVal = lstrcpy(MyString, lpClipMemory)
        RetVal = GlobalUnlock(hClipMemory)
         
        ' Peel off the null terminating character.
        MyString = Mid(MyString, 1, InStr(1, MyString, Chr$(0), 0) - 1)
      Else
        MsgBox "Clipboard is empty!"
      End If
   Else
      MsgBox "Could not lock memory to copy string from."
   End If

OutOfHere:

   RetVal = CloseClipboard()
   ClipBoard_GetData = MyString
End Function

Sub CopySelectedCellsAsText()
' Copy selected cells to clipboard, save the clipboard to a text variable,
'    and then copy this text back to clipboard
    If TypeName(Selection) <> "Range" Then Exit Sub
    Selection.Copy
    Dim strSelection As String
    strSelection = ClipBoard_GetData
    Application.CutCopyMode = False
    ClipBoard_SetData strSelection
End Sub