Every time I copy and paste a column is just shows up white with no data.

Question

Every time I copy and paste a column is just shows up white with no data.

Phil Caldwell 0

This issue of cells and columns not being able to be copied and pasted needs addressing and damned quick. I pay a member ship fee for Office 365 each month and after the latest updates it is basically broken. I am not paying for a product I cannot use, so Microsoft, pull your collective fingers out and get this matter corrected quickly.

EmilyS726 265.1K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-09-13T00:15:42.7233333+00:00

Hello

This is a known issue due to a recent update. See article https://support.microsoft.com/servicing/office/hotfix/excel/5002914

However, the issue seems to only affect perpetual license users, not the subscription user.

I do want to narrow this down a bit before I rush to give you the command to run, that can roll back to the last working version.

Can you go to your Excel app > Files > Look for About Excel section. I need to know what it looks like if you don't mind grabbing me a screenshot. It should look like the following

1 answer

Your answer

EmilyS726 265.1K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-09-13T00:15:42.7233333+00:00

Hello

This is a known issue due to a recent update. See article https://support.microsoft.com/servicing/office/hotfix/excel/5002914

However, the issue seems to only affect perpetual license users, not the subscription user.

I do want to narrow this down a bit before I rush to give you the command to run, that can roll back to the last working version.

Can you go to your Excel app > Files > Look for About Excel section. I need to know what it looks like if you don't mind grabbing me a screenshot. It should look like the following

Answer 1

If this started after a recent Office update, there is a reported Excel issue where normal copy and paste stops working after update KB5002914. In that case, these are the supported next steps:

Test whether only standard paste is failing
- If Paste Special → Values works, but normal Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V does not, that matches the reported post-update behavior.
Run an Online Repair of Office
- This is a supported repair step for copy/paste problems after an update.
If the problem began immediately after the latest update, uninstall update KB5002914 and restart Windows
- This was the accepted resolution in the reported case.
- If uninstalling the update does not fix it, reinstall Office.
If pasting a large amount of data into Excel, check the destination column format
- Select the destination column.
- Go to Home > Number Format.
- Choose the format that matches the data being pasted.
- Try pasting one column at a time.
Make sure the paste area matches the copied data
- Either select only the upper cell before pasting, or
- Select a destination range with the same number of rows and columns as the copied data.
If the pasted result appears blank because rows or columns are hidden, copy visible cells only
- Go to Home > Find & Select > Go To Special.
- Select Visible cells only > OK.
- Copy again and paste into the upper-left destination cell.
If the issue is with column appearance after paste, keep the source column widths
- After copying, go to Home > Paste arrow > Keep Source Column Widths.

References: