Microsoft confirms that Windows 11's new update breaks copy-pasting in Excel, and there's no solution yet

Published Sep 14, 2026, 9:44 PM EDT Simon is a Computer Science BSc graduate who has been writing about technology since 2014, and using Windows machines since 3.1. After working for an indie game studio and acting as the family's go-to technician for all computer issues, he found his passion for writing and decided to use his skill set to write about all things tech. Since beginning his writing career, he has written for many different publications such as WorldStart, Listverse, and MakeTechEasier. However, after finding his home at MakeUseOf in February 2019, he would eventually move on to its sister site, XDA, to bring the latest and greatest in Windows, Linux, and DIY electronics. Sign in to your XDA account Summary The latest KB5002914 patch for Windows 11 makes copy-pasting fail silently in Excel 2016–2024. Microsoft is investigating; paste shows no error, and there's currently no workaround. No temporary fix for now; consider trying LibreOffice Calc until Microsoft patches it. Another Patch Tuesday has come and gone, so you know what that means: more weird Windows 11 bugs. We've already seen the latest patch break WSL and Claude Cowork functionality due to issues with Plan9. Now, Microsoft has confirmed that anyone who downloaded the latest update may have issues copy-pasting in Excel. The latest Patch Tuesday update is breaking copy-paste functionality in Excel Worst of all, it won't even tell you what's wrong As spotted by Neowin, Microsoft has confirmed a new bug for Excel in its description of the KB5002914 September patch. As it turns out, if you've been trying to copy-paste data in Excel and it seemingly doesn't work despite you ensuring you did everything correctly, it's not just you: In Microsoft Excel 2024, 2021, 2019, and 2016, the paste operation might fail silently. Although users try to paste content, the source remains selected and the destination is unmodified. When this issue occurs, users receive no indication of the failure, such as a beep or error message. Microsoft is researching the issue and will post more information in this article when the information becomes available. The good news is that it's the only known bug in Excel introduced with KB5002914. The bad news is that it's a very annoying bug, and there's nothing we can do to temporarily fix it on our end while Microsoft works on a patch. I guess we'll just have to sit tight and wait for Microsoft to get a patch out. On the other hand, this might be the perfect excuse to give LibreOffice Calc a try.