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Excel, Copy formulae and paste - Will not paste!!!

compumac

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Posted April 1, 2012 at 10:41AM

I have been doing spreadsheets for years and suddenly my mind has gone blank. Problem: The values of 'A, B and C' are totalled in column 'D' I insert a formula in 'D' and it totals A. B and C' I then copy the formula in 'D' downwards and receive the message "Data on the clipboard is not the same shape and size as the selection, do you want to paste the data anyway"

My actual problem is more convoluted than above but has been shown to simplify the situation.

Reason???

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compumac

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Posted April 1, 2012 at 10:57AM

Update: I tried to copy and paste on other tabs on the same spreadsheet with the same result I then opened a fresh spreadsheet and tried the copy and paste within in that - the same result. I looked on the web for others with the same problem and despite there being a fair number of posts relating to the problem there did not appear to be an answer. However I shut down and then restarted Excel and lo and behold all is working as it has done for the past 20+ years!!

How?

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Simsy

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Posted April 2, 2012 at 7:21AM

That is typical of the message you receive if, somewhere in the range(es) concerned, you have some merged cells.

I'd bet next weeks lottery ticket that's where the issue is!

(I must add the caveat that I'm often wrong!)

Regards,

Simsy

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compumac

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Posted April 2, 2012 at 8:56AM

simsy This particular problem was displayed on one spreadsheet that is in use every day and the copied range does not include any merged cells at all. The particular copy and paste data is something that has been done on this spreadsheet has been done for the past eight years without this problem showing.

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Simsy

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Posted April 2, 2012 at 11:14AM

In which case I stand corrected... and have to suspect a corrupted file!

Have you tried it on a different machine, in case it's a machine problem, rather than a file problem?

Regards,

Simsy

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compumac

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Posted April 2, 2012 at 12:30PM

simsy.

I thought it might be a corrupted file, but whilst it was open I created a new spreadsheet and the problem existed within that new spreadsheet. The difficulty is that it has happened just twice, both in the last two or three days and when restarting Excel it does not not reproduce the same problem. I have also copied the data into a fresh spreadsheet and it was OK. But unless the problem is there every time it is nigh impossible to determine the cause.

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