FIX COPY AND PASTE ON EXCEL

Try these fixes in order:

1. Install the latest Office updates A known Excel issue can cause paste to fail silently. Microsoft fixed it in later updates. After updating Office, restart Excel and test copy/paste again.
2. Use Paste Special as a workaround Go to Home > Paste ▼ > Paste Special and choose Values, Formulas, or another needed option. This is the documented workaround when normal paste fails.
3. Make sure the paste area matches the copied area If the copied range and destination range are not the same size and shape, paste can fail.
   • Either select only the top-left destination cell and paste
   • Or select a destination range with the same number of rows and columns as the copied data
4. Check whether the destination columns have the right format If pasting a large amount of data, set the destination column format first:
   • Select the column letter
   • Go to Home > Number Format
   • Choose the format that matches the data Then paste again, one column at a time if needed.
5. Make sure there is enough room to paste If needed, insert more columns:
   • Select the column to the right of where the new column should go
   • Go to Home > Insert
   • Repeat until enough columns exist
6. If formulas break after pasting, paste values instead To avoid formula reference problems, copy the cells, then use Home > Paste > Paste Values.
7. If Paste Special is missing or not working
   • Go to File > Options > Advanced
   • Under Cut, copy and paste, make sure Show Paste Options button when content is pasted is checked
   • Close all web browser windows and test again
   • Start Excel in Safe Mode by holding Ctrl while opening Excel. If paste works there, an add-in is likely causing the problem. Re-enable add-ins one at a time to find the conflicting one.
8. If two Excel windows are open in separate instances Paste attributes with Paste Special may not work between different Excel instances. Open both workbooks in the same Excel instance.

If the problem started recently and normal paste does nothing with no error, updating Office is the most important fix.

• The paste operation might fail in Excel
• I can't copy and paste data on my sheet in Excel for Mac
• How to avoid broken formulas in Excel
• Paste Special option is missing or not working in Microsoft Office
• You cannot paste any attributes into a workbook in another instance of Excel