How to fix Excel automatically closing

If Excel is closing automatically when you try to copy or paste text, it may be due to several reasons including corrupted preferences or issues with background applications. Here are some steps you can take to troubleshoot and potentially resolve the issue:

1. Quit All Programs: Make sure to quit all applications before proceeding with troubleshooting.
2. Remove Excel Preferences:
   • Close all Microsoft Office applications.
   • Go to the Go menu and select Home.
   • Open the hidden Library folder by holding down the OPTION key while selecting the Go menu.
   • Navigate to the Preferences folder and look for files named com.microsoft.Excel.plist or com.microsoft.officeprefs.plist. Move them to the desktop and restart Excel to see if the issue persists.
3. Perform a Clean Restart: This can help determine if background programs are interfering with Excel. You can find instructions on how to perform a clean startup in your operating system documentation.
4. Repair Disk Permissions: If you're using macOS, you can use the Disk Utility to repair disk permissions, which may resolve permission-related issues that could cause Excel to crash.
   • Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
   • Select your primary hard disk and choose the First Aid tab, then select Repair Disk Permissions.
5. Reinstall Office: If the problem continues, consider uninstalling and then reinstalling Microsoft Office to ensure that all files are correctly installed and not corrupted.

Following these steps may help fix the issue of Excel closing unexpectedly when copying or pasting text. If the problem persists, further investigation into specific error messages or system configurations may be necessary.

References:

• Excel for Mac error: "The application Microsoft Excel quit unexpectedly"
• "Microsoft Excel has encountered a problem and needs to close" when starting Excel for Mac

1

Press and hold the Ctrl key when you open Excel to start Excel in Safe Mode.

Does that same problem occur when you open Excel in Safe Mode?

2

In the meantime, the best option is to perform a full repair of your Office installation.

Open the Settings App (gear icon on your Start Menu)

Go to Apps, then scroll down to find Microsoft Office

Select that and choose Modify - Online Repair.

That should fix any issues with your Office Installation.