Copy and Paste in Outlook from Excel Doesn't Work (it merges cells together automatically)

Question

Hello and Good Day,

I used to be able to copy and paste cells from Excel into Outlook and have them spaced between each other, but now when I do that it thinks that I want those cells to merge and it just completely changes the pasted cells. How do I get them to paste exactly as I copied?

***moved from Outlook/Outlook.com/Email***

Answer 1

Hi M-1186,

Thanks for getting back. I apologize for the inconvenience.

Since you have an enterprise license on Microsoft 365, I will move this thread to the business category. In this way, the experts who support Office products for business will be able to provide more information on how to resolve the issue. As much as I'd love to help, it's beyond my expertise as I've only been trained on personal accounts/licenses. We want you to get the answers you need to solve your problems. Please wait for the next expert to answer your question.

We appreciate your understanding.

Sincerely,

Reynaldob

Microsoft Community Forum moderator

Answer 2

Hi M-1186,

Thank you for posting in the Microsoft Community forums. I hope you are doing well.

Based on your description, it seems to be that you have problems with the copy and paste on Outlook from Excel that doesn't work. Let's work together to find the best solution to this problem.

To further isolate the problem, I would like to ask a few questions.

• Can you tell us the exact version name of your Office applications? See this article here for instructions. About Office: What version of Office am I using? - Microsoft Support
• Can you show us what paste option you selected when pasting? Please image below for referrence.
• When did the problem started? And what was your last activity on your Outlook before the problem began?

These above questions will help us provide the necessary information. Once we have collected all the information, we will formulate the possible solution to help you with your case.

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Reynaldob

Microsoft Community Forum moderator

Answer 3

Thank you so much for the reply, below is a screen-capture of my office version.

When I selected those cells, I always "CTL + C" and then "CTL + V" into an email dialogue box, I never used the "right-click + cut/copy/paste" functions, should I be doing that instead?

The problem started at the beginning of the year, not sure if my company changed any settings but now that it doesn't work it's kinda a royal-pain, since I usually email copied excel snip-bits and then have my colleagues reply back right in those excel-cells. I think something might be going on in Outlook with the "table design" or "layout", I don't remember those tabs populating prior to this problem however they could have been but not noticed because things used to be inserted/pasted correctly.

I noticed that when those tabs appear (table design + layout) it is right after I pasted cells into an open email box. However, when I click below the excel cells, (like using return to space down) those tabs disappear and then I can paste the cells again without it messing it up. The problem is, I want to be able to re-paste cells horizontally next to each other, not vertically above/below one another. Some more pix below: