Forum Discussion
Excel Insert Copied Cells Creates Blank Row
Whenever I try to copy row 2 below, right mouse click, and select Insert Copie Cells, I incorrectly get a blank row. This is in Excel safe mode with all add-ins disabled. Does anyone know how to fix this? See sample data below. Thanks.
| 1 | 32134 | 234234 | 45645 | 456 |
| 456 | 456 | 536 | 4567 | 456 |
| 456 | 456 | 456 | 456 | 456 |
1 Reply
That detail matters: because the problem still happens with add-ins disabled, a normal Excel add-in is much less likely to be the cause. So I wouldn’t start by deleting config files or repairing Office. Let’s first narrow down whether the issue is workbook-specific, selection-specific, or Excel-wide.
Please run these four tests, using exactly the same operation each time:
Select → Ctrl+C → right-click destination → Insert Copied Cells
Don’t use Ctrl+Shift++ yet — keeping the operation identical makes the results easier to compare.
Test
Result
New blank workbook + copy whole row by clicking the row number
Works / Fails
New blank workbook + copy only A2:E2
Works / Fails
Original workbook + copy whole row by clicking the row number
Works / Fails
Original workbook + copy only A2:E2
Works / Fails
For each test, also note:
- Did the copied cells still show the moving dashed border (“marching ants”) just before you clicked Insert Copied Cells?
- Did you get a blank row, an error, or the copied data inserted correctly?
How to interpret the results:
- New workbook works, original fails → The issue is specific to the original workbook/worksheet. Check for merged cells in the copied or destination rows, worksheet protection, Excel Tables (Ctrl+T — convert to a normal range), hidden/filtered rows, unusual formatting, or sheet corruption. Try copying the sheet to a new workbook or rebuilding the affected rows.
- New workbook fails both ways → The issue is not workbook-specific. Run Quick Repair first: Settings → Apps → Installed apps → Microsoft 365 → Modify → Quick Repair. If that doesn’t fix it, test under a clean Windows/Office user profile, then try Online Repair.
- Whole-row copy differs from A2:E2 → Selection/insert semantics are involved. Note exactly which one fails.
- All four fail → The problem is not specific to the original workbook. It points toward Excel, Office/user configuration, or possibly the Windows environment — but further tests are still needed to distinguish those.
- All four work → The issue may be intermittent or tied to a specific sheet state, clipboard state, or operation sequence. Restart Excel and retest the original file.
Only after those tests, if Excel’s UI is behaving strangely in general, consider renaming — not deleting — the .xlb file as a targeted UI-configuration test. It stores toolbar/ribbon customizations and is not a likely first cause for a blank Insert Copied Cells result.
If you reply with the four results and, if possible, a screenshot showing the row/column headers, I can help narrow it down further. In the meantime, a quick workaround is to copy the row, select the destination row, and try Ctrl+Shift++ or Paste Special → Insert — but use the four tests above for diagnosis, since they’ll tell us where the real problem is.
My answers are voluntary and without guarantee!
Hope this will help you.
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