You have two instances of excel running.

Close one workbook and that instance of excel.
Then in the remaining instance, do File|open to open that other workbook.

Then try your copy|paste special.

Joe VW wrote:

When I try to use Paste Special, the normal menu of choices (value, formula,
etc.) does not appear. Instead, a dialog box asking if I want to paste as
Unicode Text or Text appears. Also, when I right-click a cell and choose
'copy' then move to another cell and right-click to 'paste' the 'paste' and
'paste special' are grayed out - I have to repeat the operation for the
choices to become active. Is there a setting that has changed? It used to
work fine, but now for some reason Paste Special is not special anymore.

--

Dave Peterson