Excel paste values shortcut, and what to do when it does not work

Paste values is one of the most-used commands in Excel. You copy a cell with a formula and want only the result, or you copy a table from a web page and want the numbers without the fonts and colours. Excel has several keyboard routes to it, and each one fails in its own way. Here they all are.

The shortcuts

Ctrl+Alt+V, then V, then Enter

This is the route Microsoft documents. Ctrl+Alt+V opens the Paste Special dialog, V selects Values, and Enter pastes.

It works in every recent version of Excel for Windows, which makes it the one to learn if you use more than one computer.

Alt, E, S, V, Enter (the old menu)

Before the ribbon, Paste Special lived in the Edit menu, and the old access keys still work: press Alt, E, S one after another (not together) to open Paste Special, then V and Enter. Excel may show a small note that you are using a key sequence from an earlier version. People who learned Excel years ago often still use it.

Alt, H, V, V (the ribbon)

Press and release Alt and the ribbon shows key tips. H opens the Home tab, V opens the Paste menu, and V again picks Paste Values. The letters can differ in some languages of Excel, because key tips follow the menu names.

Ctrl+Shift+V in Microsoft 365

Recent builds of Excel for Microsoft 365 on Windows also accept Ctrl+Shift+V. It pastes the clipboard without the source formatting, so for a copied formula you get the value.

It is not in older perpetual versions such as Excel 2016 or 2019, and reports differ on which builds have it, so on some computers it does nothing. Try it once; if nothing happens, use the next route.

Ctrl+V, then Ctrl, then V

After a normal paste, a small Paste Options button appears next to the pasted cells. Press Ctrl to open it and V to switch the paste to values. Handy when you have already pasted and changed your mind.

Why paste values "does not work"

When one of these routes fails, the cause is usually one of these:

Your Excel version. Ctrl+Shift+V needs a recent Microsoft 365 build. If it does nothing, use Ctrl+Alt+V V Enter.
Nothing is on the clipboard, or it came from another program. Paste Special shows different options when you copy from a browser or Word. "Values" may be missing; choose Text or Unicode Text instead.
The copy marquee is gone. If you press Esc or edit a cell after copying, Excel forgets the copy. Copy again.
Another program took the shortcut. Graphics drivers, screen recorders and clipboard tools sometimes register Ctrl+Alt+V or Ctrl+Shift+V for themselves. Try the shortcut in a fresh, empty workbook; if Excel still ignores it, check which tools are running.
The sheet is protected or the cells are locked. Excel refuses the paste and says so.
Merged cells of a different size. Pasting into merged cells that do not match the copied shape fails with an error about merged cells.
Keyboard layout. On some non-English layouts, Ctrl+Alt acts as AltGr, and the key you press for V may produce a different character, so the shortcut never reaches Excel. The ribbon route (Alt, H, V, V) avoids this.

Excel's own way to get a one-press shortcut is the Quick Access Toolbar. Right-click Paste Values in the Paste menu and choose Add to Quick Access Toolbar. It then gets a key tip: Alt followed by its number in the toolbar, for example Alt 4. Put it first in the toolbar and it becomes Alt 1.

Paste values with one flick

RadialDeck is the radial menu for Windows that we make. When Excel is in front, the same hotkey that opens your usual ring opens an Excel ring instead, and the gallery includes Paste values as a ready-made slice. Under the hood it presses Ctrl+Alt+V V Enter for you, the most widely supported of the routes above.

An Excel ring with Paste values, Freeze panes, Filter, AutoSum and more

So the sequence becomes: copy, hold the hotkey, flick toward Paste values, let go. Put it at the top and after a few days you will not look at the ring at all.

The Excel recipes in the gallery cover the other things people use shortcuts for every day: freeze panes, toggle filter, AutoSum, a new sheet, insert a row above, delete a row, autofit columns, remove duplicates, a pivot table, save the sheet as PDF and more. The Excel page lists all of them.

For text from other programs there is also Paste plain in the clipboard ring, which pastes the copied text without any formatting in Excel, Word, Outlook or anywhere else.

Quick reference

Works almost everywhere: Ctrl+Alt+V V Enter
Microsoft 365: Ctrl+Shift+V
After pasting: Ctrl V on the Paste Options button
Ribbon: Alt H V V
Old menu: Alt E S V Enter
One key: add Paste Values to the Quick Access Toolbar

RadialDeck is free for two rings and has a 14-day trial of Pro, which adds a ring per program such as the Excel ring above. It is in the Microsoft Store.