Excel v2048 -- copy & paste does not work. Cut & Paste does work

Barry Gellman 0 Reputation points
2026-09-11T16:13:29.83+00:00

Within the last day, copy & paste commands no longer works. A dotted box forms around the cells but does not transfer when paste command is utilized. Also should I care to copy an entire worksheet, paste does not work. Paste123 works but no formating carries with it (ie highlights). The copy/paste features work in WORD.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | Other | Windows
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  1. AI answer

    2026-09-11T16:13:46.5633333+00:00

    Try these checks in Excel on Windows:

    1. Confirm Paste Options is enabled Go to File > Options > Advanced. Under Cut, copy and paste, make sure Show Paste Options button when content is pasted is checked.
    2. Check whether Excel is running in more than one instance If the workbook being copied from and the workbook being pasted into are open in different Excel instances, Excel can fall back to the Windows Paste Special dialog and Excel paste attributes such as Formulas, Values, Formats, Comments will not be available. Open both workbooks in the same Excel instance.
    3. Test in Safe Mode to rule out add-ins Close Excel. Then hold CTRL and start Excel, and confirm Safe Mode. If copy/paste works there, an add-in is likely interfering. Re-enable add-ins one at a time and leave the conflicting one disabled or uninstall it.
    4. Close web browsers before testing again Browser processes can conflict with Paste Special in Excel. Close all browser windows and test copy/paste again.
    5. If only Paste Special values work, verify this is not a recent Office update issue A reported case matches this pattern exactly: normal Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V stops working, while Cut/Paste and Paste Special options such as Values still work. In that case, the accepted fix was to remove update KB5002914 and restart the PC. If that does not resolve it, reinstalling Office was also reported to restore copy/paste.
    6. If the issue started after a recent update, run an Online Repair A reported resolution for copy/cut/paste problems after an update was to perform an Online Repair of Office.

    If the problem is specifically with pasting a copied range into a selected destination range, also make sure the paste area matches the copied data size and shape, or select only the upper-left destination cell before pasting.

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

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  2. DaveM121 929K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-09-11T16:46:27.77+00:00

    The Paste problem is now widely reported in Excel as being caused by the latest Office update (KB5002914), though so far Microsoft do not seem to be aware of the problem, the best option is to open Excel, click Help - Feedback - Report a Concern and report this to the Office Developers.

    Try uninstalling that update and restart your PC, if that does not resolve the problem some people are reporting they needed to reinstall Office to restore the copy/paste functionality in Excel.

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