XL2000: Copied Formula is Pasted as a Value

When you paste a formula to a cell, you receive a value instead of the formula, although the animated marquee is still present on the cell containing the formula.

This problem may occur when you copy a cell that contains a formula two or more times by pressing Ctrl+C and then paste the item with the Microsoft Office Clipboard toolbar.

To work around this issue, do not use the Microsoft Office Clipboard toolbar to copy and paste formulas. Instead, click Copy on the Edit menu to copy the formula, and click Paste on the Edit menu to paste the formula. Repeat this process to copy and paste multiple formulas.

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

When a single formula is copied it is placed on the Microsoft Office Clipboard and the Microsoft Windows Clipboard. Because the formula is the only item available for pasting, the item is pasted from the Microsoft Windows Clipboard, which will copy and paste formulas. When the same formula is copied two or more times, the Microsoft Office Clipboard evaluates the value of the formula and compares this value to the previous item copied. Because the items are equal a single value is stored that represents both copy operations. When the item is pasted from the Office Clipboard, the value in the Office Clipboard is used in place of the formula from the first copy operation.

For more information about the 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.