XL97: Text Copied from Microsoft Word Is Converted into Squares (171705)

SYMPTOMS

If you copy text in a Microsoft Word document, and then paste the copied text into Microsoft Excel 97, some or all of the pasted characters may appear as square characters. If you reformat the pasted characters, they all appear as the same character.

CAUSE

This problem occurs if some or all of the copied characters are formatted with any of the following fonts

Monotype Sorts
Symbol
Webdings
Wingdings

or with any other font that uses mostly symbols instead of traditional characters.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, use the Paste Special command on the Edit menu to paste the copied text into Microsoft Excel 97. To do this, follow these steps:

In Microsoft Word, select the text that you want to copy. On the Edit menu, click Copy.
Switch to Microsoft Excel 97. Select the cell or location in which you want to paste the text.
On the Edit menu, click Paste Special.
In the Paste Special dialog box, click Text in the As list. Then, click OK.

The text is pasted into the cell and uses the font the cell is formatted to use. You can reformat the cell to use any font you want. When you do this, the text appears exactly the same as it does in Microsoft Word.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This problem no longer occurs in Microsoft Excel 2000.