Copy and Paste Is Not Working in Excel (9 Reasons & Solutions)

The following dataset represents the Product, Price, Quantity, and Total of a company. We’ll use it to demonstrate the most common reasons for copy-paste not working in Excel.

Copy and Paste Is Not Working in Excel: 9 Reasons and Solutions

Reason 1 – Copy and Paste 2 Ranges with Formulas

If you copy and paste separate ranges of cells including formulas in the dataset values, only the values get pasted but not the formulas involved in them.

Solution:

Select the range of cells to work with.

Select cell G4 or any other place where you want to paste.

Right-click on the mouse and select Paste Special from the context menu.

A dialogue box will pop out. Select All from the Paste options.
Press OK.

You’ll get your desired output.

Reason 2 – Error in Copying Different Rows and Columns in Excel

Excel shows errors when we copy different rows and columns.

Select different rows and columns as shown in the red-colored boxes in the following picture and try to copy them.
Immediately, an error message will pop out.

Solution:

This happens because the Excel copy command doesn’t operate on different rows and different columns at the same time.

Select any range of cells in columns B and C and copy them. It’ll work.

Select any cells present in rows 4,5,6, and 7 and copy them. The above-mentioned problem won’t arise.

Reason 3 – Copy and Paste Area Size Doesn’t Match in Excel

If the copy area and paste area don’t match, Excel will show an error.

Select column B and copy it.

Select cell F4 and try to paste. An error message will pop out.

Solution:

The possible way to solve it is given below:

Select the entire column F.
Paste. You’ll get the result.

Reason 4 – Excel Conditional Formatting Issue

Sometimes, Excel doesn’t allow copying and pasting or slows down the process due to the application of conditional formatting in the datasheet.

Solution:

Select Clear Rules from Entire Sheet from Clear Rules options in the Conditional Formatting drop-down list under the Home tab.

This will remove all the formatting.
Save the file as a new file.
You’ll be able to copy and paste without any issues.

Reason 5 – Excel DDE Causing Problems in Copy and Paste

The DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange) option can create problems during copying and pasting.

Solution:

Ignoring DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange) can solve the Excel cannot paste data issue.

Click File.

Select Options.

A dialog box will pop out. In the Advanced tab, uncheck the box Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE).
Press OK.
You’ll be able to copy and paste ignoring this issue.

Reason 6 – Copy and Paste a Large Amount of Data in Excel

The traditional XLS sheets have 65,000 rows. This will create problems in copy-paste.

Solution:

If you want to copy more than that, switch to the XLSX sheet. You’ll have a million rows to input data.

Reason 7 – Excel Add-ins

Add-ins can freeze Excel sheets when we try to copy and paste.

Solution:

Open the Excel file in safe mode.
Go to File and select Options.
A dialog box will pop out. In the Add-ins tab, select Go next to the Manage box.

To disable the add-ins, uncheck all of them.
Press OK.
Enable them again by repeating the process and checking the boxes. The issue will disappear and you can copy and paste without any issues.