Excel freezes when copying and pasting

Microsoft Excel is one of the most widely used applications across the globe. Sometimes, a simple action such as copying and pasting cells might put an Excel sheet into a frozen state. The occasional occurrence of this issue can be easily resolved. However, if you are facing this issue more than occasionally, you need other solutions. Read further to know what to do when Excel freezes when copying and pasting.

Excel freezes when copying and pasting

Excel freezing while copying and pasting is an error that is faced very commonly by users. There could be several reasons why this error is occurring. Here are some solutions to resolve the issue.

1. Uncheck the Show cut, copy and paste options
2. Disable the Live Preview option
3. Repair the Microsoft Office applications
4. Remove conditional formatting
5. Install the latest Windows & Office Updates
6. Find if Add-ins have issues
7. Remove Cache files

Let us look at these solutions in detail.

1] Uncheck the Show cut, copy and paste options

One of the easiest solutions is to uncheck the boxes related copy and paste option. For this follow the next steps:

1. Go to the File tab on your ribbon.
2. Now select Options from the left side of the preview window.
3. Click on the Advanced tab in the Excel Options
4. Go to the Cut, copy and paste segment, and uncheck the two options namely, the Show Paste Options button when content is pasted, and the Show Insert Options buttons options.
5. Now, click on OK.

Now, check if the error of Excel not responding or freezing while copying and pasting still exists.

Read: Excel freezing, crashing or not responding

2] Disable the Live Preview option

When you try to paste a copied cell (or cells) with a right-click and then use the special paste options, sometimes, the Excel sheet freezes. You can try to resolve this issue by disabling the Live Preview option. Follow the next steps to do so:

1. Follow steps 1-2 from the above solution (Uncheck the Show cut, copy and paste options).
2. Go to the General tab in the left-side menu. (By default, this option is selected)
3. On the right-hand side, find the section User Interface options.
4. Uncheck the box in front of Enable Live Preview. When you uncheck this box, you won’t preview what the pasted value will look like.

Read: Excel is slow to respond or stops working

3] Repair the Microsoft Office applications

Sometimes the error of Excel not responding or freezing occurs while working due to some issue with Microsoft Office apps. To repair the Office apps, follow the next steps:

1. Go to Settings of your PC from the Windows menu.
2. Now go to Apps.
3. When the Apps settings window opens, click on the Apps & features
4. Go to the Microsoft 365 apps and click on it. Now click on Modify.

5. Once the modification window, click on Yes if a user account control box appears.
6. Now, select Quick Repair or Online Repair as per your requirements. Now, click on Repair.

This solution should resolve the issue with Excel without losing any data.

Read: How to fix Excel not responding without losing data?

4] Remove Conditional Formatting

While working with an Excel sheet, we often apply Conditional Formatting to the cells to categorize the contents within the data. Sometimes, the conditional formatting causes the issue of Excel not responding or freezing. Hence, try to remove the Conditional Formatting for the cells before copying and pasting. To do so, follow the next steps:

1. Click on the Home tab on your Excel sheet ribbon.
2. Now click on Conditional Formatting
3. From the drop-down menu, select Clear Rules and then select one relevant option to clear the conditional formatting from selected cells, an entire sheet, a table, or a Pivotal table.

5] Install the latest Windows & Office Updates

Installing the latest updates of the Windows & Office software also resolves most of the issues appearing on these apps.

Read: Excel keeps flickering

6] Find if Add-ins have issues

Another common cause of freezing Excel sheets while copying and pasting is the issues with Excell add-ins. We often add several add-ins to Microsoft Office which might be causing the issue of excel not responding.

To see if the add-ins have an issue, follow the next steps:

1. Open Excel in safe mode. To do so, press Win+R and open the Run command dialog. Now type in Excel/safe. Then click OK.
2. Now, in the Excel file go to the File tab, and select Options.
3. From the left side menu, click on Add-ins
4. Now select COM Add-ins in the Manage field and then click on Go.
5. Now, uncheck all of the add-ins in the COM Add-ins box and finally click on OK.

7] Remove Cache files

Overloaded cache files could also be a cause of Excel not responding issue. In such a case, try clearing the cache of Excel 365.

What are the common causes of Excel freezing when copying and pasting?

Most of the time, the Excel sheet does not freeze because of the Excel itself. Sometimes add-ins, macros, or software that we install later causes the issue. Virus attacks could also be the reason behind Excel freezing when copying and pasting. Hence, always perform virus scans and Windows updates. Sometimes, an incorrectly saved Excel table can freeze the Excel sheet.

Why is copy-paste feature not working in Excel?

There could be several reasons for this.

The easiest way to tackle this problem is to restart the Excel workbook. At times, simply closing the workbook or Excel sheet and reopening can solve the issue of Excel freezing when copying and pasting. Hence, before trying any other solutions, first, try to restart the workbook.

How can I clear the cache in Excel?

When the Excel sheet freezes while working on it or while copying and pasting, one of the solutions is to clear the cache in Excel. To do so, follow the next steps:

1. Open the Office Upload Center window from the Windows menu, and then click on Settings.
2. With this, the window of Microsoft Office Upload Center Settings opens. In this window, look for Cache Settings.
3. Under Cache Settings, click on the Delete cached files button.
4. A pop-up window appears, asking you if you are sure to delete all cached information. Click on Delete cached information button.

This clears the cache in all Office applications including Excel.