Microsoft KB Archive/209338

= XL2000: Copied Formula is Pasted as a Value =

Article ID: 209338

Article Last Modified on 11/5/2003

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Excel 2000 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q209338



SYMPTOMS
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.



CAUSE
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.



WORKAROUND
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.



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



MORE INFORMATION
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.

