Slow paste

Sometimes Excel takes a long time to perform paste operations [last noted: January 2022]. If this problem occurs you are working on a small workbook a paste operation that would normally appear instantaneous might take a few seconds, and if you are working on a large workbook then a paste operation that would normally take half a second might take a few minutes. This problem does not usually occur, but if it does happen then it typically keeps occurring.

Ideal solution

The underlying problem is with Excel, and ideally Microsoft would fix it. The official channel for reporting bugs in Excel and making feature requests is through their public feedback portal. Please update this page with a link if you find that the issue has already been raised or if you raise it yourself.

Workarounds

The following workarounds may allow you to keep working. You probably do not need to implement all of them.

• Save anything you have that is open and has changes you want to keep, and close any other large workbooks you have open in the same instance of Excel.
• Close all other workbooks you have open in the same instance of Excel.
• Disable any Excel add-ins you have running. This item is mainly on this list for completeness because it will typically be included in any given helpdesk troubleshooting process - if it does not help you then as a modeller you may be inclined to reinstate your preferred add-ins.
• Restart Excel.
• Close any other significant programs you have running.
• Restart your computer.
• The workbook file might have become corrupted (most likely due to a bug in Excel), so:
  • use Excel's "Open and repair" feature; or
  • rebuild the workbook from scratch.