How to Fix Excel If It Freezes When You Copy and Paste: 9 Ways

Microsoft designed Excel to save you time using templates, creating layouts, and organizing data. So, there’s nothing more annoying and time-consuming than Excel freezing when you copy and paste new data into your spreadsheet.

When this happens, you want to fix it as soon as possible. So let’s see how you can make Excel work again.

1. Update the Office app

A software glitch or bug can prevent Excel from copying and pasting without crashing or crashing. Most of the time, installing the latest available update will fix the problem.

To update Office apps on a Windows computer, launch the Microsoft Store and select Library. Then click on the Get updates button to install pending updates.

If you use Office on Mac, open any Office application and go to Help > Check for updates. Installing updates is a common way to fix bugs and issues, which is why you shouldn’t use a pirated copy of Microsoft Office.

2. Remove Application Conflict

It is possible that Excel freezes while copying and pasting due to a software conflict. This happens when a different application has a negative impact on the operations of Excel.

Maybe you installed something without realizing it, or another user made changes to your system. In this case, you should take a look at the list of applications installed on your computer and remove those that may be causing you problems.

If you need these apps and cannot uninstall them, prevent them from launching at system startup. Also, it can be useful to create a local user account for other people, so that only you can change your system settings.

Also, your antivirus may interfere with some Excel macros. Try temporarily disabling the antivirus and check if Excel starts working normally again. If there is no application hampering Excel’s functionality, you should take a look at Excel’s settings.

3. Change the Cut, Copy and Paste settings

If Excel encounters a problem with the functionality of the paste area, it can cause the whole application to crash or crash. To prevent this from happening, you need to change the Paste box settings. Here’s how:

1. Head toward File > Options.
2. In the Excel Options window, select Advanced.
3. Go to the Cut, copy and paste section.
4. Uncheck the Show Paste Options button when content is pasted and Show insert option buttons options.
5. Click on OKAY.
6. Restart the application and check if Excel still freezes when you copy and paste.

4. Disable live preview option

If you use the special paste options, Excel will preview how the inserted data will look. Usually this shouldn’t crash Excel, but if you’ve opened a lot of applications and used a lot of system resources, your computer may have trouble keeping up with a task.

1. Go to File > Options.
2. Select General.
3. Of User interface optionsuncheck Enable Live Preview.
4. Click on OKAY to save the change.

Also, Excel may freeze when copying and pasting if your computer is really old and you are editing an unusually large spreadsheet with lots of objects and formatting rules.

5. Check Excel Add-ins

Although add-ins are designed to make your life easier when working in Excel, sometimes they cause the application to malfunction and crash while you copy and paste.

The quickest way to check if an add-in is causing you problems is to start Excel in Safe Mode. press the Windows key + R to launch a Run dialog box. Then type excel/sure and press Walk in. With Excel open in Safe Mode, try copying and pasting and check if the problem persists. If Excel keeps freezing, you should check the list of installed add-ins.

1. To open the Excel Options menu, press Otherfollowed by F and J.
2. In the left pane, click Complements.
3. Adjust Manage at COM add-ins and click Go. Excel will now open the list of installed add-ins.
4. Uncheck the add-ins one by one to find out which one is causing you the copy-paste problem.
5. Once you find the culprit, follow the above steps again and remove the faulty add-on.

Now close Excel and reopen it as usual.

6. Delete cache files

If Office has collected too much cache data, you may experience all sorts of problems, including Excel crashing when you copy and paste. To solve this problem, you need to delete the cache files. Here’s the easiest way to do it:

1. Launch any Office application and navigate to File > Options.
2. Click on Trust Center > Trust Center Settings and select Catalogs of Approved Add-ons.
3. Check the Next time you start Office, clear the cache of all previously started web add-ins option.
4. Click on OKAY.

7. Inspect your document

Excel comes with a tool that you can use to analyze your spreadsheet and find issues with hidden properties or personal information. To scan your document, open the Case menu and go to Information. There, click Check for issues and select Inspect Document.

Once the inspection is complete, Excel will provide you with the results. If problems are detected, click remove all next to them.

8. Set a new default printer

It might be a weird trick, but it might solve the copy-paste problem. Excel constantly communicates with the default printer, and if there is a problem with the printer driver or settings, it can cause Excel to malfunction. To fix this problem, you need to change the default printer in Windows.

9. Repair Microsoft Office

If you have tried changing Excel settings and you are still facing the application crashing, you can try repairing the Office installation. On a Windows computer, press the key Windows key + I to display the Settings menu and access apps. There, select Microsoft Office and click Edit. In the pop-up window, select Quick repair and click Repair to start the process.

If you are still having problems after repairing Office, you can go through the instructions again and select Online Repairas long as you are connected to the internet.

Prevent Excel from freezing when you copy and paste

Hope you can now copy and paste without Excel freezing up every time. Most of the time, you need to change Excel settings to make it work again. Also, by keeping Office up-to-date and clearing cache data regularly, apps will continue to run smoothly.

Copying and pasting is the easiest way to insert new data into your spreadsheet, but you can use other ways to increase the productivity of the process.