Issue with Excel 2016 - copy and paste cells

Elisabetta Storelli 45 Reputation points
2026-09-09T12:06:30.7466667+00:00

Hi,

I have a issue on a PC where Microsoft Office 2016 is installed. From today, then I try to copy and a paste a cell, it doesn't work. If I try to copy text from Word to Excel, it works. So, the issue is linked only to copy a cell and paste it. I've already tried to run excel in safe mode, restart the PC, re-install Excel but nothing works.

Some advices?

Kind regards,
Betta

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For business | Windows

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Answer recommended by moderator
EmilyS_726 29,390 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2026-09-20T15:26:25.2133333+00:00

Just to follow up -

Microsoft has released a corrective update.

For Excel 2016, KB5002665, released September 16, 2026, specifically fixes the known KB5002914 issue that caused certain paste operations to fail silently.

https://support.microsoft.com/servicing/office/hotfix/excel/5002665

One caveat: Microsoft says paste operations may still fail in workbooks containing conditional formatting. So this is a confirmed fix for the original issue, but not yet a complete resolution of every paste failure scenario.

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  1. MGmirkin 5 Reputation points
    2026-09-10T00:11:06.2433333+00:00

    It's likely KB5002914 Excel security update. It broke copy/paste in Excel, and also select+drag to fill/extend [which I use all the time at work, so having it "break" for no good reason was a real bummer today, and had to spend several hours diagnosing and trying to figure out WTF happened].

    Suspected an update broke shit, and lo and behold, after rolling back to a restore point and show/hide-ing KB5002914 [using the old deprecated show/hide tool to hide it], and installing the rest of the updates that were queue'd [without re-installing the busted one], the problem is resolved.

    They need to fix KB5002914, the Excel "security" patch.

    And, of course, in M$'s infinite wisdom you can no longer just "uninstall" the patch from the "uninstall updates" screen, like you used to be able to, due to their seeming insistence that "every [update] is sacred." So, it seems like a rollback / hide / rerun all the other updates was the only obvious fix I could find in short order to get back up and running and finish my work. Maybe someone has some more technical way to nix it without having to do the rollback / hide / re-update rigamarole? Dunno.

    Hopefully they make patching it a priority, since they broke it.

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  2. Abrar Razi 25 Reputation points
    2026-09-11T07:05:23.9733333+00:00

    Pepaire is not working, even i reinstalled after one day same issue. So please run this command to removed that causing update :

    Open cmd run as administrator and run the below command
    "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE16\Oarpmany.exe" /removereleaseinpatch "{90160000-0012-0000-1000-0000000FF1CE}" "{27882596-A8ED-4382-9C71-6CD2DD19F732}" "1033" "0"

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  3. Saad Jalal 0 Reputation points
    2026-09-11T06:58:05.6733333+00:00

    I fixed the issue using the following way. The issue is mainly because of the update KB5002914 and you can fix the issue in such way:

    Go to:

    Control Panel → Programs → Programs and Features → View installed updates

    Find:

    Security Update for Microsoft Excel 2016 (KB5002914)

    Right-click → Uninstall → restart Windows.

    Then immediately test:

    Excel → Ctrl+C → another Excel cell → Ctrl+V

    If normal paste starts working again, we've essentially confirmed the cause.

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  4. AI answer

    2026-09-09T12:06:48.1033333+00:00

    Try these checks in order:

    1. Make sure both workbooks are open in the same Excel instance. If one workbook is opened in a second Excel window/instance, Excel can fall back to the Windows Paste Special behavior and Excel cell paste options will not work correctly between workbooks.
    2. Verify that Paste Options is enabled:
      • Go to File > Options > Advanced.
      • Under Cut, copy and paste, confirm Show Paste Options button when content is pasted is checked.
    3. Since Safe Mode did not help, check whether Excel events are being cleared by workbook code:
      • A Worksheet_SelectionChange event can clear the clipboard and disable Paste Special.
      • If this workbook contains VBA/event code, set Application.EnableEvents to False and test again.
    4. Close all web browsers completely and test copy/paste again. Browser conflicts are documented as a cause of Paste Special problems.
    5. If the problem occurs only when pasting between two Excel windows, open both files in the same Excel instance and retry.
    6. If this PC is on Excel 2016 version 16.0.4229.1002 preview, there is a known bug where sheet copy/move behaves incorrectly. The documented fix is:
      • Uninstall the preview Office build from Control Panel > Program and Features.
      • Install a released RTM version of Office.
      • Turn on automatic updates.
    7. If the issue started after a recent Office update and reinstall did not help, an Online Repair of Office is the next documented repair path.

    Because copy from Word to Excel works, the problem is likely specific to Excel’s internal copy/paste handling rather than the Windows clipboard itself.


    References:

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