Office 2016 Excel unable to Copy + Paste

Question

Office 2016 Excel unable to Copy + Paste

Eric V 10

This is quite a unique problem I'm facing and haven't been able to figure out.

I'm using Excel 2016 on Windows 11 and when using the standard Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V combo, my cells will not paste (single or multiple). Here is the list of things I've attempted and checked:

Excel's clipboard is enabled. When opening the panel and copying something, the selection appears there, but pasting does not paste anything. This is EXCLUSIVELY to the standard Paste feature. I am able to do all other Special Paste options besides Paste (P)
My computer's clipboard isn't restricting the paste
I do use a security software and have already determined it is not blocking the paste
My computer is up-to-date with drivers, updates, and Microsoft updates
The Cut, copy, and paste options within Excel are checked
I have made sure my clipboard is not maxed out with items
I have gone through Powershell to check any restrictions happening (there are none)

Any advise on what to try next would be great. It's not very fun trying to copy a range that has formulas and many pieces of information one at a time.

Nicholas Thompson 5 Reputation points

2026-09-09T19:38:08.3733333+00:00

We are having the same issues with a network of 459 workstations. We are finding Copy/Paste does not work, Draging cells does not work, copying worksheets does not work. Cutting works fine. The version affected is 16.0.5569.1003.
Valentin Milev 0 Reputation points

2026-09-10T17:49:42.04+00:00

Find and uninstall Excel security update KB5002914, which was released on 08.09.2026.

Unfortunately in my case I had to use Total Uninstaller (the computer was with Office 2016 / Windows 11) - the update was not available in the 'Uninstall updates' section.

It not only broke Copy/Paste in Excel but also broke making copies of entire sheets. In all experiments I did I found that Office clipboard was working just fine if you click it with mouse but regular Copy (via Ctrl-C or mouse) produces empty clipboard. At the same time pasting from external program worked just fine.
Lars Andreas Olsen 0 Reputation points

2026-09-11T06:57:27.74+00:00

As Valentin said, the issue is KB5002914. See also this article from Microsoft, particularly the known issues section: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/servicing/office/hotfix/excel/5002914

1 answer

Your answer

Nicholas Thompson 5 Reputation points

2026-09-09T19:38:08.3733333+00:00

We are having the same issues with a network of 459 workstations. We are finding Copy/Paste does not work, Draging cells does not work, copying worksheets does not work. Cutting works fine. The version affected is 16.0.5569.1003.
Valentin Milev 0 Reputation points

2026-09-10T17:49:42.04+00:00

Find and uninstall Excel security update KB5002914, which was released on 08.09.2026.

Unfortunately in my case I had to use Total Uninstaller (the computer was with Office 2016 / Windows 11) - the update was not available in the 'Uninstall updates' section.

It not only broke Copy/Paste in Excel but also broke making copies of entire sheets. In all experiments I did I found that Office clipboard was working just fine if you click it with mouse but regular Copy (via Ctrl-C or mouse) produces empty clipboard. At the same time pasting from external program worked just fine.
Lars Andreas Olsen 0 Reputation points

2026-09-11T06:57:27.74+00:00

As Valentin said, the issue is KB5002914. See also this article from Microsoft, particularly the known issues section: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/servicing/office/hotfix/excel/5002914

Answer 1

Bulldog 4,385

Office 2016 is not supported. Support officially ended on October 14, 2025, so there are no solutions from Microsoft. Hopefully one of the community members here in Microsoft Q&A has an idea that could help you.

Valentin Milev 0 Reputation points

2026-09-10T17:52:58.34+00:00

You are both right and wrong, because in this case security update, released by Microsoft for 'unsupported product' actually broke it's functionality.

Even in unsupported state the security updates must have enough quality to not break the functionality of the product.

This is the exact reason why many people never trusted Microsoft in 2000s and never updated their Windows XPs