Can't Access Paste Special Anymore

[Guest]

I used to be able to right-click on a cell, copy then right-click on another
cell and choose from a dialog box either 'all', 'formulas', 'value',
'formats', etc., but now all that comes up is a dialog box asking if I want
to paste as 'Unicode Text' or 'Text'. How do I get back the original Paste
Special dialog box?

 

[Dave Peterson]

You have two instances of excel running.

Close one workbook and that instance of excel.
Then in the remaining instance, do File|open to open that other workbook.

Then try your copy|paste special.

 

[Guest]

It doesn't matter. When I first load Excel and use the first blank
spreadsheet (not loading anything), it still acts the same way. I can't even
select a range of cells and click another cell and copy - it will only copy
into the first cell. Before, it would copy the whole range without me doing
anything special. I am really baffled. I can't use Excel the way it is
behaving.

 

[Dave Peterson]

I don't understand.

Are you saying that if you open a new workbook and try copying from one cell in
Sheet1 to another cell in Sheet1 (same workbook), then you get that funny paste
special dialog?

If you mean that happens, then a guess--Do you have any special windows
clipboard software running in the background?

If I remember correctly, someone posted with a similar problem and found the
answer himself/herself, but posted back that another program was interrupting
that Edit|copy function.

If you close all other open applications, does excel still react this same way?

 

[Guest]

Dave,

You were correct. I closed all running apps and tried Paste Special and
voila, it works just like it used to. Not sure which offending app caused
Excel's Paste Special to stop functioning, but I will, by process of
elimination, discover the culprit and end its life on my PC. Thanks again for
your help.

 

[Dave Peterson]

I don't recall the specific application, but I _think_ it was some sort of
emulation program. Maybe a program to get to a mainframe or an AS400 or.... (I
looked, but couldn't find the message.)

If you find the answer, please post back with the name of the program. Then
Google will have it for then next victim.

Dave,

You were correct. I closed all running apps and tried Paste Special and
voila, it works just like it used to. Not sure which offending app caused
Excel's Paste Special to stop functioning, but I will, by process of
elimination, discover the culprit and end its life on my PC. Thanks again for
your help.