Excel refuses to paste

Question

I am simply trying to paste a value from a single cell in one spreadsheet to a single cell in another.  No matter how I reformat the copied value, I keep getting this error message:

The information cannot be pasted because the Copy area and the paste area are not the same size and shape.  Try one of the following:

Click a single cell, and then paste.

Select a rectangle that's the same size and shape, and then paste.

Excel's error message makes no sense at all.  I am going from one single cell to another single cell.  Aren't ALL cells rectangles?  Are there triangular cells or rhomboid cells?

Answer 1

Either you should have Grouped/selected multiple sheets and doing it. Just ungroup the multiple sheets which you can do by selecting any sheet/right click/ungroup sheets.

Or 

To make sure there are no merged cells in the entire source sheet, click the top left corner of the sheet or press Ctrl+A twice.  Then choose Home, open the Merge & Center drop down and choose Unmerge Cells.  If there were any hidden rows or columns containing merged cells, this would address those.

Also go thru this thread

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2007-excel/the-information-cannot-be-pasted-because-the-copy/1c1327b2-2420-49a5-84a5-52b73f38f70a?page=1

Answer 2

Does this happen with (i) a particular workbook?

Just one workbook.  I ungrouped the worksheets and problem was solved.

Answer 3

Does this happen with (i) a particular workbook or (ii) with everyworkbook?

Open a new workbook and experiment

Please tell us the result

best wishes