Excel 2016 on Windows 11 - Copy, Paste, and Drag & Drop Not Working Across Multiple Systems

Praddyumn Singh 0 Reputation points
2026-09-10T04:42:33.9433333+00:00

Hello Team,

We are facing a critical issue with Microsoft Excel 2016 across our organization.

Environment:

  • Microsoft Office 2016
  • Windows 11
  • Issue affecting multiple systems (not limited to a single user or device)

Issue Details:

  • Copy (Ctrl+C) appears to work and the "marching ants" border is displayed around the selected cells.
  • Paste (Ctrl+V) does not work.
  • Right-click Paste also does not work.
  • Drag & Drop of cells is not working.
  • The issue occurs in both existing and newly created workbooks.
  • The problem is consistent across multiple machines in our environment.

Observations:

  • Excel enters copy mode successfully.
  • No error message is displayed.
  • The copied content is not pasted anywhere.
  • The issue is not isolated to a single user profile or workstation.

Troubleshooting Performed:

  • Restarted Excel and Windows.
  • Tested with new workbooks.
  • Verified that cell drag-and-drop is enabled in Excel Options.
  • Issue reproduced on multiple systems.

Questions:

  1. Has Microsoft acknowledged any recent issue affecting Excel 2016 Copy/Paste and Drag & Drop functionality?
  2. Are other organizations reporting the same behavior?
  3. Is there any known workaround, hotfix, or Office update that addresses this issue?
  4. Could this be related to a recent Office 2016 or Windows 11 update?

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Regards
[Moderator note: Personally Identifiable Information removed]

Email : [Moderator note: Personally Identifiable Information removed]@berger-nipponpaint.co.in

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For business | Other
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  1. Darren Bruce 1,315 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-09-10T05:36:26+00:00

    Dear @Praddyumn Singh,

    Please understand that this forum is a public platform, and moderators will modify your question to cover your personal information in the description. Please notice to hide these personal or organization information next time you post error or some information to protect personal data. 
    Based on your description, this does not currently appear to be a known widespread Windows 11 issue, but there have been multiple recent reports from organizations using Office 2016 where standard Paste and Drag & Drop functionality stopped working after recent Office updates. Notably, another Q&A thread reported similar symptoms after installation of update KB5002914 for Office 2016.

    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5998543/issue-with-excel-2016-copy-and-paste-cells

    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5998507/copy-paste-not-working-on-excel-2016

    Check the Office build on affected machines:

    Excel > File > Account > About Excel

    Compare affected systems and determine whether the issue started immediately after a recent Office 2016 security update deployment. Another recently reported case specifically mentioned the issue beginning after KB5002914 installation

    If the timing coincides with a recent Office update, you may temporarily uninstall the latest Office update (or revert the Office build where applicable) and test whether Copy/Paste and Drag & Drop functionality return to normal.

    In parallel, I would also recommend testing Excel in Safe Mode to rule out add-ins, as clipboard and drag-drop issues can also be caused by COM add-ins or third-party integrations.

    • Press Windows + R.
    • Type: excel /safe
    • Create two new blank workbooks.
    • Test again.

    Additionally, please note that Office 2016 reached end of support on October 14, 2025. While the applications will continue to run, Microsoft no longer provides security updates, bug fixes, or technical support for Office 2016.

    Please note that if this behavior was introduced by a Microsoft software update, it may require investigation from Microsoft's product team. As a user, I do not have the necessary tools or permissions to resolve a potential product regression directly. In this case, I recommend contacting your IT department and opening a support ticket with Microsoft through the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. You can also report the issue directly from Excel by navigating to:

    Help > Feedback > Report a Problem

    Or submit your feedback via Microsoft Feedback portal https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback

    If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out.

    Note: Please follow the steps in the forum documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread. 

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