XL2000: Values Pasted from Clipboard in Place of Formulas

When you copy a formula from one cell and paste it into another cell, Microsoft Excel pastes the formula's value instead of the actual formula.

This behavior occurs when the following conditions are true:

• You use the Microsoft Office Clipboard toolbar.
  
  -and-
  
  
• The formula is not the last item copied.
  
  -and-
  
  
• The formula is not the first item pasted.

This behavior also occurs when you paste any item twice from the Microsoft Office Clipboard.

To work around this behavior, follow these steps:

1. Select the cell containing the formula you want to copy.
2. On the Edit menu, click Copy.
3. Select the cell where you want to paste the formula.
4. On the Edit menu, click Paste.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

Microsoft Office 2000 introduces the Microsoft Office Clipboard toolbar. The Office Clipboard allows you to collect and paste multiple values in Microsoft Office programs. Because the Office Clipboard stores only values, it does not store formulas.

Although the Office Clipboard stores only values, it may sometimes appear to correctly paste formulas. This happens when the formula is both the last item copied and the first item pasted, and when it is pasted only once. In this case, the formula is actually pasted directly from the Microsoft Windows Clipboard rather than the Office Clipboard, although it appears as though the formula has been correctly pasted from the Office Clipboard. However when you paste the same item again, or paste other collected formulas from the Office Clipboard, only values are pasted.

To display the Clipboard toolbar, point to Toolbars on the View menu and click Clipboard.

For more information about the Office Clipboard, click Microsoft Excel Help on the Help menu, type clipboard in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topics returned.