May 14 2020 04:01 AM - last edited on Nov 09 2023 11:09 AM by
Hi there,
Whenever I copy paste special in excel, my excel file freezes and after a waiting for a few seconds to few minutes, depending on the amount of data being copy pasted, I get this error 'Microsoft Excel is waiting for another application to complete an OLE action'
I tried a few things like this but none help and the problem persists.
1st troubleshooting
1. Open the Excel sheet and go the File menu. In the File menu, click on Options.
2. An Excel Options dialog box will appear. Go to the Advanced tab and scroll down to the General area. Over there check Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE).
3. Restart Excel.
2nd troubleshooting
Tried opening Excel in safe mode
3rd troubleshooting
Removed all the Add ins
4th troubleshooting
Reinstalled MS Office.
Can someone help.
Aug 27 2021 03:09 PM
Aug 28 2021 11:12 PM
Si, asi es. El problema es McAfee Virus Scan. Cuando yo fue hablando con McAfee, ellos dicen que solucion es 'update' su applicacion. Para mi, esto sirve.... para usted...quien saben?
Aug 30 2021 11:05 AM
The McAfee thing worked for me as well. Thank you!
Does this mean that in order to keep your computer/unit to maintain McAfee protection, one has to toggle that setting on and off every time you want to open an Excel spreadsheet?
Aug 30 2021 12:03 PM
@airborne63 a mi no me funciono incluso tuvimos que cambiar el antivirus
Sep 02 2021 09:33 AM
@Sprybert For me, after I had opened the spreadsheets that Excel had flagged with this, (antivirus OFF), it then said that the files had been tagged as 'causing a crash' before, and did I want to open them again? Check yes, and they will open, and remove the tag on the file.
You can them open them normally the next time.....just MY experience. Good luck. :)
Sep 26 2021 07:35 PM
That worked for me too.@PWarrior
Nov 09 2021 05:59 AM - edited Nov 09 2021 06:01 AM
@teribryant, I was having the same issue. I found that when I copied the files from a streaming folder to my PC it stopped and everything works as expected. I used google drive and I think that was the issue. Pausing the streaming didn't solve the problem but moving the file to a non-shared (i.e. not streaming) folder worked.
Best wishes
Nov 09 2021 08:29 AM
@ZenithWoman That makes sense! I'll try that.
Nov 09 2021 08:31 AM
It does not always work.
You'll see that you'll receive the error at a moment in time.
Nov 09 2021 04:35 PM
Nov 15 2021 12:25 PM
Mar 15 2022 05:11 PM
May 11 2022 09:31 AM
Jan 17 2023 02:14 PM - edited Jan 17 2023 02:20 PM
Jan 17 2023 02:23 PM
Mar 03 2023 07:17 AM
I am having the same problem. I save my file on a shard drive for work. This problem comes up every couple of months and I have to copy all of my data to a new spreadsheet. I can't copy the entire row, I have to only select the data. I've also noticed that the file size goes from about 200kb to 80000kb. None of my coworkers have this issue. We can't control any of our add-in or anti-virus settings. @nileshparekh
Jul 07 2023 10:08 AM
@Arietis24 I am currently having the same problem - the excel file is located on a remote MS 2019 Server and this just started a few days ago and now another user is being affected with just this one file. They have been sharing this same file for years. Did you solve your problem any help would be appreciated.
Jul 09 2023 08:49 PM
Still MS engineers are working on it. They are not able to fix their own issue, very strange.
Jul 12 2023 10:04 AM
Yea, I've never found a solution. Sorry I couldn't help you, it's very frustrating. @conchcrawl
Sep 28 2023 03:18 AM
@nileshparekh, in my case I only ever used to get the 'Microsoft Excel is waiting for another application to complete an OLE action' error when my WiFi connection wasn't strong enough. I work from home and had to find a solution to this. I wasn't able to sit closer to my router, and I wasn't able to move the router to closer to my desk. I initially resorted to using a network cable directly from the router to my computer, but I've since also set up a mesh WiFi network in my house. I never get the error anymore. Hope this may help others who are plagued by this!