Copy multiple cells, paste into one

Question

Hello,

I recently "upgraded" from Excel 2011 to Excel 2016 and it looks like I've lost a bit of functionality I use often. In Excel 2011, I could select two or more adjacent cells in a row, copy (command + C), double click in a new blank cell, and paste (command

• V) - and the result would be that the content of all the copied cells would now be concatenated into one cell with a space automatically inserted between the content from each of the copied cells. I've made that sound much more complicated than it actually is... Here's an example:

	A	B	C	D	E
1	abcd	efgh	ijkl	mnop
2

In Excel 2011, I could select cells A1, B1, C1, and D1, copy (command + C), double-click in E1 to get the cursor, and paste (command + V), and this would be the result in E1:

	A	B	C	D	E
1	abcd	efgh	ijkl	mnop	abcd efgh ijkl mnop
2

When I attempt this in Excel 2016, nothing happens when I paste. I know that I could concatenate these cells by typing a formula in E1:

=A1&" "&B1&" "&C1&" "&D1

... but it's so much easier to just select, copy, double-click, paste. I'm hoping someone will respond and tell me there's a setting I need to adjust or something equally simple to regain this function.

I apologize if this has already been asked and answered - I've been pouring over the community help forum and it looks like a lot of people have encountered problems with pasting in Excel 2016, but I haven't seen a post matching my issue. The closest I've seen is someone who had this problem pop up sporadically, but (s)he could resolve it by restarting Excel. For me, the problem is constant no matter what I've tried. I am current on my updates (Excel 15.17, OS X 10.11). Any advice?

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Use the Smiley at the right end of Excel's Ribbon to report your findings about the missing behavior to the Microsoft development team

Answer 2

There is a work around for 2016:  If you do a copy of multiple cells with highlighting all cells and Ctrl-C, then paste (Ctrl-V) to Notepad and all the cell contents will be pasted, then Ctrl-C from Notepad and highlight destination cell and Ctrl-V.  Beats copying one cell at a time for how ever many cells.

Answer 3

Well, I'll be......

My issue is (was) that I never use edit directly in cell. It's the first option I make sure is off. Yes indeed it works fine in 2011. As you point out, in 2016, as soon as you click in the formula bar the marching ants disappear, and apparently the clipboard is cleared, so you can't paste. In 2011, the ants disappear, but the clipboard is apparently still alive.

I have used Excel almost every day since 1985, and most every day I learn something new about it. This was today's lesson. Thanks Elizabelle and Bob.

Answer 4

She's right, Bob... but you need to either double-click the target cell to go into Edit/Enter mode before you paste or select the target cell & paste into the Formula Bar.

It just plain doesn't work in 2016 [big surprise :-/] In fact, as soon as you double-click a cell of click into the Formula Bar you lose the ability to paste at all.

Answer 5

Wow! Maybe you forgot a step in your explanation, but I have NEVER seen this with any version of Excel, ever. But, maybe I am missing something, it's always possible. I tried your suggestion with Excel 2011 and got just exactly what I expected: E1 containing abcd, F1 containing efgh, G1 containing ijkl, and H1 containing mnop.

So, one of is is a little confused. I'm pretty sure Excel 2016 is working exactly like 2011, and the way it is supposed to in this regard.