Issue with Excel 2016 - copy and paste cells

Elisabetta Storelli 20 Reputation points
2026-09-09T12:06:30.7466667+00:00

Hi,

I have a issue on a PC where Microsoft Office 2016 is installed. From today, then I try to copy and a paste a cell, it doesn't work. If I try to copy text from Word to Excel, it works. So, the issue is linked only to copy a cell and paste it. I've already tried to run excel in safe mode, restart the PC, re-install Excel but nothing works.

Some advices?

Kind regards,
Betta

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For business | Windows

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  1. MGmirkin 0 Reputation points
    2026-09-10T00:11:06.2433333+00:00

    It's likely KB5002914 Excel security update. It broke copy/paste in Excel, and also select+drag to fill/extend [which I use all the time at work, so having it "break" for no good reason was a real bummer today, and had to spend several hours diagnosing and trying to figure out WTF happened].

    Suspected an update broke shit, and lo and behold, after rolling back to a restore point and show/hide-ing KB5002914 [using the old deprecated show/hide tool to hide it], and installing the rest of the updates that were queue'd [without re-installing the busted one], the problem is resolved.

    They need to fix KB5002914, the Excel "security" patch.

    And, of course, in M$'s infinite wisdom you can no longer just "uninstall" the patch from the "uninstall updates" screen, like you used to be able to, due to their seeming insistence that "every [update] is sacred." So, it seems like a rollback / hide / rerun all the other updates was the only obvious fix I could find in short order to get back up and running and finish my work. Maybe someone has some more technical way to nix it without having to do the rollback / hide / re-update rigamarole? Dunno.

    Hopefully they make patching it a priority, since they broke it.

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  2. Michelle Nguyen 1,340 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-09-09T15:06:18.55+00:00

    Please note that Microsoft Office 2016 reached End of Support on October 14, 2025. After this date, Microsoft no longer provides security updates, bug fixes, technical support, or time zone updates for this product.

    Hi @Elisabetta Storelli

    A few tests will pin down exactly which mechanism it is, then point to the right fix:

    -Test Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V in Notepad, outside Excel entirelyOpen Notepad, type some text, select it, and try Ctrl+C then Ctrl+V. If this ALSO fails, the interception is happening system-wide (not Excel-specific), confirming something outside Office is eating these two keystrokes. If it works fine in Notepad, the problem is narrower than and more likely tied to something specific about Excel's clipboard payload.

    -Confirm right-click and ribbon copy/paste both workRight-click a cell > Copy, then right-click a target cell > Paste. Separately, try the Copy/Paste buttons on the Home ribbon. If both of these succeed while only the keyboard shortcut fails, that all but confirms a hotkey conflict rather than a broken copy/paste engine.

    -Turn off Windows Clipboard History (Win+V) and re-test: Settings > System > Clipboard, and turn Clipboard History off. Restart the PC and retest.

    -Test Excel under a different Windows user profile on the same PC: Since reinstalling Excel and restarting didn't help, it's worth ruling out anything specific to this Windows user profile (a leftover macro, a corrupted setting) versus the machine as a whole. If a different Windows account on the same PC copy/pastes fine in Excel, the fix is profile-specific (recreating the profile or hunting for a stray macro/startup item) rather than a system-wide one.

    -Ask IT about any recently deployed security/DLP policy: Since this is flagged as a business PC, ask IT whether any endpoint protection, DLP (data loss prevention), or clipboard-monitoring policy was deployed around today's date. You may want to check with your IT department about rolling back to the previous Windows version and see if that helps.

    Please refer: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/updates-lifecycle/how-to-uninstall-a-windows-update

    Please let me know more details.

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  3. Elisabetta Storelli 20 Reputation points
    2026-09-09T12:17:24.7733333+00:00

    After new tests, I've seen that ONLY the copy/paste action made by CTRL+C / CTRL+V is not working... Some advices?

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  4. AI answer

    2026-09-09T12:06:48.1033333+00:00

    Try these checks in order:

    1. Make sure both workbooks are open in the same Excel instance. If one workbook is opened in a second Excel window/instance, Excel can fall back to the Windows Paste Special behavior and Excel cell paste options will not work correctly between workbooks.
    2. Verify that Paste Options is enabled:
      • Go to File > Options > Advanced.
      • Under Cut, copy and paste, confirm Show Paste Options button when content is pasted is checked.
    3. Since Safe Mode did not help, check whether Excel events are being cleared by workbook code:
      • A Worksheet_SelectionChange event can clear the clipboard and disable Paste Special.
      • If this workbook contains VBA/event code, set Application.EnableEvents to False and test again.
    4. Close all web browsers completely and test copy/paste again. Browser conflicts are documented as a cause of Paste Special problems.
    5. If the problem occurs only when pasting between two Excel windows, open both files in the same Excel instance and retry.
    6. If this PC is on Excel 2016 version 16.0.4229.1002 preview, there is a known bug where sheet copy/move behaves incorrectly. The documented fix is:
      • Uninstall the preview Office build from Control Panel > Program and Features.
      • Install a released RTM version of Office.
      • Turn on automatic updates.
    7. If the issue started after a recent Office update and reinstall did not help, an Online Repair of Office is the next documented repair path.

    Because copy from Word to Excel works, the problem is likely specific to Excel’s internal copy/paste handling rather than the Windows clipboard itself.

    References:

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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