How to Fix Excel freezes when copying and pasting [Steps]

What is ‘Excel freezes when copying and pasting’ issue in Windows 10/11?

In this article, we are going to discuss on How to fix Excel freezes when copying and pasting issue in Windows 10/11. You are provided with easy steps/methods to resolve the issue. Let’s starts the discussion.

‘Excel freezes when copying and pasting’ issue:

It is common problem relating to MS Excel or Excel document usually occurred while trying to perform copying and pasting operation in MS Excel file in Windows 10/11 computer. This issue indicates you are unable to use Excel file/document when you perform copy & paste operation. Excel freezes issue means the Excel application stop processing any information does nothing for long time interval until fixes itself or crashes. Several users reported excel freezes issue while performing copying & pasting operation.

The possible reasons behind the issue can be the outdated Excel application, background process relating issues with Excel, issue with add-ins installed in Excel, corrupted Office suite, interference of antivirus/firewall program, wrong configured Excel settings, issue with settings relating to copy & paste in Excel application, and other issues. If you are facing the issue and looking for ways to fix, then you are in right-place for the solution. Let’s go for the solution.

How to fix Excel freezes when copying and pasting issue in Windows 10/11?

Method 1: Fix ‘Excel freezes when copying and pasting’ issue with ‘PC Repair Tool’

‘PC Repair Tool’ is quick & easy ways to find and fix BSOD errors, DLL errors, EXE errors, problems with programs/applications, malware or viruses infections in computer, and other system issues with just few clicks.

Method 2: Disable Live Preview feature in Excel

One possible way to fix the issue is to disable Live Preview feature in order to use special paste options.

Step 1: Open ‘Excel’ application in Windows PC and click ‘File’ tab on your ribbon, select ‘Options’ on left-pane, and in Excel Options box, select ‘General’

Step 2: Under ‘User Interface Options’, uncheck ‘Enable Live Preview’ option, and hit ‘Ok’ button to save the changes, and then check if the issue is resolved.

Method 3: Remove all conditional formatting

This issue can be occurred due to too much conditional formatting in Spreadsheet. You can fix the issue by removing all conditional formatting.

Step 1: On Excel app, go to ‘Home’ tab and click ‘Conditional Formatting’ under ‘Styles’

Step 2: Hover your cursor over ‘Clear Rules’ option from dropdown menu and select the option you need to clear the rule used for conditional formatting.

Step 3: This will remove conditional formats from cell you have selected or from spreadsheet or table depending on option you selected. Once done, check if it works for you toward resolving the issue.

Method 4: Remove issues with Document Inspector

Step 1: In Excel app, click ‘File’ tab and go to ‘Info’

Step 2: Select ‘Check for issues’ beside ‘Inspect Workbook’ on right-pane of preview and select ‘Inspect Document’ from dropdown

Step 3: In ‘Document Inspector’ box, click ‘Inspect’. If you can select the content you want to inspect before that, and click ‘Remove all’ for all issues

Method 5: Remove Excel Cache

Another way to fix the issue is to clear Excel app cache.

Step 1: Press ‘Windows + R’ keys on keyboard, type ‘%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Wef\’ in ‘Run’ window and hit ‘Ok’ button

Step 2: This will open the location folder of cache. Select all files in the opened folder and delete them, and then check if the issue is resolved.

Method 6: Check for problematic add-ins in Excel

This issue can be occurred due to some problematic add-ins installed in Excel. You can fix the issue by checking and removing the problematic one.

Step 1: Press ‘Windows + R’ keys on keyboard, type ‘excel/safe’ in ‘Run’ window and hit ‘Ok’ button to open Excel file in safe mode

Step 2: Now, click ‘File’ tab and select ‘Options’ in left pane

Step 3: In Excel Options box, select ‘Add-ins’ and select ‘COM Add-ins’ in Manage field, and hit ‘Go’

Step 4: Uncheck all add-ins in ‘COM Add-ins’ box and hit ‘Ok’ button to save the changes, and then check if the issue is resolved.

Method 7: Disable Hardware acceleration

You can also try to resolve the issue by disabling hardware acceleration feature.

Step 1: In Excel app, click ‘File’ tab and select ‘Options’ in left-pane

Step 2: Go to ‘Advanced’ tab and under ‘Display’, uncheck ‘Disable hardware graphics acceleration’ option, and hit ‘Ok’ button to disable this feature, and once done, check if it works for you toward resolving the issue.

Method 8: Uncheck ‘Show cut, copy and paste’ options in Excel settings

Step 1: In Excel app, click ‘File’ tab and select ‘Options’ in left pane

Step 2: Under ‘Cut, copy and paste’ section, uncheck ‘Show paste options button when content is pasted’ and ‘Show insert options buttons’ options, and hit ‘Ok’ button to save the changes, and check if the issue is resolved.

Method 9: Repair Microsoft Office app

You can also try to fix the issue by repairing Office suite in order to repair corruption in Excel app.

Step 1: Open ‘Settings’ app in Windows PC via Windows Search Box and go to ‘Apps > Apps & Features’

Step 2: Find and select ‘MS Office suite’, and select ‘Advanced Options’ and click ‘Repair’ and confirm it

Step 3: Once done, restart your computer and check if the issue is resolved.

Method 10: Change default printer

Some users reported changing default printer in Windows PC can resolve the issue.

Step 1: Open ‘Control Panel’ app in Windows PC and go to ‘Devices and Printers’ section

Step 2: In the opened page, change the default printer to OneNote or other options available if the default is offline network printer, and then check if the issue is resolved.

Method 11: Perform Selective startup

You can perform selective startup in computer in order to disable conflicting apps/services from startup.

Step 1: Press “CTRL + SHIFT + ESC” keys on keyboard to open ‘Task Manager’ app

Step 2: Click ‘Startup’ tab, right-click on each app one-by-one, and select ‘Disable’ to disable them, and then retry performing copying & pasting operation in Excel app, and check if the issue is resolved.

Method 12: Update Windows OS

Updating Windows OS to latest version can resolve the issue.

Step 1: Open ‘Settings’ app in Windows PC and go to ‘Update & Security > Windows Update’ and click ‘Check for updates’ button

Step 2: Download and install all available updates in computer and once updated, restart your computer and check if the issue is resolved.

Method 13: Update device drivers

Updating all necessary device drivers to latest & compatible version can resolve the issue. You can also try to update all Windows drivers including sound card driver, graphics card driver, printer driver, and other device drivers using Automatic Driver Update Tool. You can get this tool through button/link below.

Conclusion

I am sure this article helped you on How to fix Excel freezes when copying and pasting issue in Windows 10/11 with easy ways. You can read & follow our instructions to do so. That’s all. For any suggestions or queries, please write on comment box below.