To copy columns from one Excel spreadsheet to another, you need to click on the column name first in the source file. Then, open the destination file and press Ctrl+V.

That means you cannot copy an entire column by clicking a column header and copy it into an entire row; instead, you must precisely copy just the range of data.

Tips The fill handle method works for both columns and rows, while the copy and paste method can be used to populate a row, column or even an entire block of cells with the same value.