Microsoft KB Archive/176838

= You receive an error message when you use the Paste Special command in Excel =

Article ID: 176838

Article Last Modified on 1/22/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Office Excel 2003
 * Microsoft Excel 2002 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Excel 2000 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Excel 2001 for Mac
 * Microsoft Excel 97 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Excel 98 for Macintosh
 * Microsoft Excel X for Mac

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This article was previously published under Q176838



SYMPTOMS
When you try to use the Paste Special command in the versions of Microsoft Excel that are listed in the "Applies to" section, you may receive the following error message:

This operation requires the merged cells to be identically sized.



CAUSE
This problem may occur if both of the following conditions are true:
 * You copy data from a range of cells that contains merged cells.
 * You try to paste the values only (on the Edit menu, click Paste Special, and then click Values) on the same sheet that you copied the values from.



WORKAROUND
To copy the contents of merged cells and paste their values, you must first unmerge the cells. To work around this problem, follow these steps:
 * 1) Select the merged cells that are in the range that you want to copy.
 * 2) On the Format menu, click Cells, and then click the Alignment tab.
 * 3) Click to clear the Merge cells check box, and then click OK.

Note the range of cells that you selected.
 * 1) Select the entire range the you want to copy.
 * 2) On the Edit menu, click Copy.
 * 3) Select the range of cells where you want to paste the values.
 * 4) On the Edit menu, click Paste Special.

Click Values, and then click OK.
 * 1) Select the cells that you noted in step 3.
 * 2) On the Format menu, click Cells, and then click the Alignment tab.
 * 3) Click the Merge cells check box, and then click OK.

Additional query words: XL97 XL xl2000 xl2002 xl2003 xlx xl2001

Keywords: kbformat kberrmsg kbprb KB176838

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