Unable to Copy Excel Formulas with Cntl-C

**Starfire512** · 05-26-2011, 03:25 PM

Excel 2010, very competent user

I have disabled all Add-ins

Automated Calculation is on.

This happens on new spreadsheets, old spreadsheets, etc. It does not matter the type of spreadsheet. It also happens in compatibility mode on Excel 2003 sheets or .xlsx sheets.

When I highlight a cell or group of cells, regardless of whether there is data or formulas (or just formulas), and Copy that(those) cell(s), it always pastes the Values. It does not matter whether I used Cntl-C or press the Copy button. As far as I can tell, the cell(s) being copied to the excel notepad (or windows notepad) ALWAYS contains the data, and never the formula.

The Paste Formulas option never is available (assuming this is because there are no formulas being copied).

Paste Special brings up the external pasting window with only the options of pasting Text or Unicode Text.

So, what did I do to screw up Excel 2010?

I'm suspicious that I somehow have circumvented the Excel Notepad and am using the Windows Notepad instead (if that is possible).

**Starfire512** · 05-30-2011, 10:22 PM

No one knows the answer to this one?

**teylyn** · 05-31-2011, 12:43 AM

Hello,

Are you pasting into the same workbook or another workbook?

If you are pasting into another workbook, the Paste Special options for formulas, formatting, etc. will only be available if the two workbooks are opened in the same instance of Excel.

To ensure that, open the first Excel file, then open the second file via the File > Open dialog. If you simply double click on the file in Windows Exporer, it may be opened in a second instance of Excel, depending on your system settings. And between instances, the paste special dialog only offers the text options you mention.

cheers,

**Starfire512** · 06-02-2011, 09:02 PM

Same Workbook. So, that doesn't solve my particular issue.

**teylyn** · 06-03-2011, 05:04 AM

Notepad has nothing to do with copying. I assume you mean the clipboard.

This is unusual behaviour. If you copy a cell with a formula and paste it into another cell on the same sheet, does it not copy the formula? Can you take a few screenshots of what that looks like and post them here?

What environment does your Excel 2010 run in? Local machine? Network? Does the same phenomenon apply to other computers?

You may want to try a repair install or uninstall/re-install.