Applies To
Excel for Microsoft 365 for Mac Excel 2024 for Mac Excel 2021 for Mac

There are a few things that could cause issues when trying to copy and paste data in Excel for Mac. This article discusses troubleshooting steps that can help resolve the most common issues.

Change the cell format for a column

If you're trying to paste a large amount of information in Excel for Mac, make sure that the cell format for the cells in the column matches the format of the information that you want to paste, and then paste the information one column at a time.

  1. Select the column heading (A, B, C, and so on) for the column that you want to change.

  2. On the Home tab, select the Number Format Format Number box menu.

  3. Select the cell format that matches the information that you are trying to paste into the column.

Insert additional columns

If you're trying to paste information, make sure that you have enough columns to accept the information by inserting more columns, then try pasting again.

  1. Select the column heading (A, B, C, and so on) for the column to the right of where you want to add a column.

  2. On the Home tab, select Insert.

    The column that you originally selected shifts to the right and the new column appears.

  3. Repeat step 2 until you have inserted the number of columns that you want.

The Copy and Paste area are not the same size and shape.

If you're trying to copy and paste but the area isn't the same size and shape, there are two ways to easily fix the issue.

Select the upper cell instead of the whole range before you paste

  1. Select the cell where you want the upper cell of the copied data to appear.

  2. On the Home tab, select Paste.

    On the Home tab, select Paste

Select a range of cells for the Paste area that's the same size and shape as the copied data.

  1. Select a range of cells that is the exact number of rows and columns as the information that you want to paste.

  2. On the Home tab, select Paste.

    On the Home tab, select Paste

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