Pasting from Word to PowerPoint is causing an error message

Anonymous
2024-11-30T13:57:38+00:00

When I copy and paste or cut and paste text from Word to PowerPoint, I get an error message that says "We're sorry. Something went wrong that might make PowerPoint unstable. Please save your presentations and restart PowerPoint."

  • It is Microsoft 365 and PowerPoint version 2411 (Build 18227.20046 Click-to-Run)
  • It is only text from Word. Text from other sources work fine.
  • It is only text. Images can be copied and pasted with no problem.
  • It is text of all sizes, including just one word from a brand-new doc.

I've tried:

  • Restarting PowerPoint
  • Restarting Word
  • Restarting the computer
  • Restarting PowerPoint in Safe Mode
  • I've tried text from different Word documents, including new docs I've just created for this purpose
  • I've tried text with just one word, and text with a lot of words
  • I've tried adding a new user and doing it from that user's account (same computer though)
Microsoft 365 and Office | PowerPoint | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-05-03T15:06:20+00:00

    As has been pointed out, many of us have used Copy and Paste for years and only within the past year had this problem. Yes, paste text only works, but that's sad that we can't simply copy and paste from apps that are all part of Microsoft Office 365.

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  2. Anonymous
    2025-05-02T20:46:22+00:00

    I received an update today. It seems to be working again.

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  3. John Korchok 236.4K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2025-04-03T15:24:18+00:00

    No one in this forum is a Microsoft programmer, so we can't answer "why" questions. Please choose Help>Feedback>Report a problem to report the bug to the PowerPoint programming team.

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  4. Anonymous
    2025-04-03T14:12:37+00:00

    Why is pasting word content into a powerpoint causing an instability warning.

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  5. Anonymous
    2025-03-26T12:38:25+00:00

    Note for troubleshooting: A friend of mine also has this problem with Office 2016. However, it only started when he logged into Office 2016 with his Microsoft account. Before that, the error didn't exist. It's possible that the MS account is causing this problem for some people. After he logged out of Office 2016 from his MS account, the error persisted and now permanently disrupts his work.

    By the way: He has a freshly installed Windows computer. Apart from Windows and Office 2016, there's nothing on this device.

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