Excel is freezing (not responding) when copy and paste.

Question

On my worksheet, I like to copy and paste 4 or 5 rows at a time to eliminate having to type same info out week after week. This past few months, when I do, it freezes. The wheel turns and says "excel not responding." I have to go completely out, and when I do it again, it does it again. I've done copy and pasting for years. What has changed or is happening here?

Answer 1

Hi Cindy H,

Thank you for reaching out to us. I am Blessing, an independent advisor here and a Microsoft user like you.

Sorry for the inconvenience. If Excel not responding, hangs or freezes, you can try the solutions provided by Microsoft in article below: https://support.microsoft.com/office/37e7d3c9-9e84-40bf-a805-4ca6853a1ff4

1. Try Safe mode troubleshooting.
2. Investigate possible issues with files in Startup folders.
3. Install the latest updates.
4. Check to make sure Excel is not in use by another process. 5.Repair your Office programs.

See more troubleshooting tips in the link for guidance.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

I have had this happen over the years multiple times. The first solution I came across worked for the longest time and was mentioned by Joao de Almeida e Silva which is to set your default printer to a PDF writer.

More recently this has not been working. The main issue now is if you have another excel file open and it is in the "PROTECTED VIEW" that prevents editing. For whatever reason, have a different excel file in this state causes copy/paste to take forever resulting in Excel entering a not responding state. Closing any open files that are in this "PROTECTED VIEW' has allowed copy/paste functionality to return to normal.

Answer 3

I’ve seen the same issue, very consistently. The browser locks up for about a minute after copying from Excel. It doesn’t happen when copying from within a cell, just when a cell or cell range itself is copied. So a workaround is to click into the cell, copy the value, and click out of the cell, though that’s only helpful if it’s a single cell value you need.

Answer 4

Dear GillianJarvis1,

That sounds like a setting controlled by an administrator of the computer you're working on. I believe you would need to talk with a person of the technical administrative team for your organization to gain access to this specific functionality.

Best regards,

S Gibbens

Answer 5

THANK YOU SO MUCH! I've been out of my mind trying to figure out what was causing this.