Paste Link Not Working in Excel: 3 Methods

Method 1 – Unprotecting Worksheet

Step 01: Pasting Link in a Protected Worksheet

See what happens when we try to paste a link into a protected worksheet.

Select the cells of the Sales and the Profit columns and press the keyboard shortcut CTRL + C to copy the cells.

Go to the protected worksheet and select cell C5.
Go to the Home tab from the ribbon.
Choose the Paste option from the Clipboard group.
Select the Paste Link option from the drop-down.

You will have the following error message as shown in the following image.

Step 02: Unprotecting the Worksheet

Right-click on the worksheet name and select the Unprotect Sheet option.

The Unprotect Sheet dialogue box will open on your worksheet.

In the Unprotect Sheet dialogue box, enter your password.
Click OK, and your worksheet will be unprotected.

Follow the steps mentioned in step 01 of this method and you can paste the copied cells as a link.

Method 2 – Resetting Toolbar

Steps:

Right-click on any portion of the empty space on the ribbon.
Select the Customize the Ribbon option.

The Excel Options dialogue box will open on your worksheet.

Note: You can also use the keyboard shortcut ALT + F + T to directly open the Excel Options dialogue box from your worksheet.

Click on the Reset option, as marked in the following picture.
Choose the Reset all customizations option from the drop-down.

Click OK in the Microsoft Office dialogue box.

Click OK in the Excel Options dialogue box.

You can use the steps outlined in step 01 of the 1st method and you will have the following outputs as shown in the image below.

Method 3 – Applying Excel Formula

Steps:

Select the cells where you want to Paste Link.
In cell C5 type in = to start the formula.

Go to the worksheet with the original data. In this case, we selected Dataset 1.
Choose the cells under the Sales and the Profit columns.
Press the keyboard shortcut SHIFT + ENTER to apply the formula.

Note: Here, we used SHIFT + ENTER instead of ENTER as it’s an array formula. However, you don’t need to press SHIFT if you’re a Microsoft 365 user.

You will have the following outputs, as demonstrated in the following picture.

What to Do When Paste Special is Not Working in Excel

Method 1 – Using Excel Options Feature

Steps:

Go to the File tab from Ribbon.

Click on Options as marked in the following image.

In the Excel Options dialogue box, select the Advanced tab.
Make sure to check the field of the Show Paste Options button when content is pasted in the Cut, copy, and paste section.
Click on OK.