I'd paste into a single column. Then use data|text to columns to parse the data
into separate columns.

And since excel likes to help, you'll see that excel remembers those parsing
rules the next time you paste.

This assumes that you haven't:
1. closed and reopened excel
2. done a different data|text to columns
or
3. imported a different text file

Each of these will change the behavior (resetting or remembering different
rules)

GKW in GA wrote:

I often cut and paste into excel from a text (.txt) document or email that
has a column of numbers or words. When I paste, it all goes into the same
cell in Excel. How can I make each column paste into its own column in Excel

--

Dave Peterson