Copy and Paste in Business Central

Copy/Paste in Business Central: What Works, What Breaks

Copy/paste in Business Central is useful, but it’s not a free-for-all like Excel. In the right places it’s a massive time-saver; in the wrong places it becomes “why is finance shouting at me?” levels of pain.

We use copy/paste constantly in real Business Central rollouts because it’s fast and familiar. The key is understanding what Business Central is actually copying (records/fields) and when it insists on validating data like a proper ERP (because it is one).

Business Central doesn’t paste “text”, it pastes “data with rules”

When you paste, Business Central often triggers:

• Field validation (is this value allowed?)

• Lookups (does that customer/item/account exist?)

• Mandatory field checks

• Permissions checks

• Page design limits (editable vs non-editable lists)

So when paste “breaks”, it’s frequently Business Central stopping you from inserting garbage at speed.

What works reliably

1) Copy/paste rows in editable lists

You can copy one or more rows (records) from a list and paste them into:

• the same page

• another page

• external apps (Excel, Outlook, etc.)

But the destination list must be editable.

How to paste rows (the supported way)

• Copy rows: select rows → Ctrl+C

• Paste rows: click an empty row (focus in any cell) → Ctrl+V

Overwriting existing rows

• If you select existing rows and paste, you can only paste the same number of rows you selected.

That little rule is why people see errors like “You cannot paste 48 rows in the selected 1 row”.

2) Copy a field value (single-cell copy/paste)

If the cursor is in a field:

• Ctrl+C copies the full value (unless you highlight part of it)

• Ctrl+V pastes it

3) The best shortcut nobody uses: F8

In editable lists, F8 copies the field value from the row above into the current row.

If you’re repeating Posting Date, Location Code, Dimensions, etc., F8 is often safer than pasting a block of mixed data.

4) Copy rows into an email/Teams message (sharing)

Copy a set of rows from a list, paste into an email, and it can appear as a nicely formatted table. It’s a surprisingly clean way to share “here are the 3 orders that are stuck” without screenshots.

What breaks (and why)

1) Pasting into non-editable pages (nothing happens)

If the page/list isn’t editable, paste won’t work. This is not a bug; it’s the page design.

What to do instead

• Find the proper editable entry page (journal/worksheet/lines)

• Use a structured import method (see later)

2) Pasting multiple lines from Excel into journals (validation errors / partial paste)

This is the big one.

In journals and document lines, Business Central validates many fields as you paste. If the values don’t match what the page expects (or the setup behind the scenes), you’ll get:

• validation errors

• “paste failed” messages

• only the first row pasted, then everything else rejected

This is a very common real-world symptom when pasting payroll or allocations, especially when specialised fields are present.

The usual causes 

• Your Excel columns don’t match the visible BC columns (order matters)

• Dates/decimals aren’t in a format BC likes (UK vs US dates can be a silent killer)

• You’re trying to paste values into fields that depend on lookups/setup (posting groups, dimensions, VAT-related fields, account/item references)

3) The “I copied rows but it didn’t duplicate what I thought” problem

Copy/paste rows is great for speed, but it can also replicate values you shouldn’t be cloning (posting dates, document numbers, dimensions, location codes).

If you don’t understand what’s being copied, you can very quickly create perfectly consistent wrong data. That’s the worst kind.

The safe way to paste (especially from Excel)

The “minimum viable paste” rule

Paste only what Business Central can validate cleanly, then fill the rest with lookups or F8.

Usually safe to paste

• Description

• Quantity

• Amount

• Posting Date (if format is consistent)

• Document No. (where allowed)

Usually risky to paste

• Account Type/Account No. (if you’ve got mixed types)

• VAT/Posting Group fields

• Dimensions (especially if you’re using shortcuts + mandatory dims)

• Location/Bin (if warehouse rules apply)

The “small batch first” rule

1. Paste 5–10 lines
2. Confirm they behave (no skipped columns, no weird auto-fill, totals look sane)
3. Then paste the rest

Yes, it’s slower. It’s still faster than reversing a bad journal.

Troubleshooting: when paste won’t behave

If nothing pastes

• Confirm the destination is an editable list

• Click into an empty row, in any cell, then paste

• If you selected 1 row but try to paste 20, it will refuse (select the correct number or paste into empty lines)

If you get validation errors

• Check Excel column order matches the BC columns you’re pasting into (and that you haven’t hidden/reordered columns in BC)

• Paste fewer columns (start with the safest fields)

• Use F8 for repeating values instead of pasting entire blocks

What to use instead of copy/paste (when it’s the wrong tool)

Copy/paste is fine for small, controlled entry.

If you’re doing hundreds/thousands of lines, or you need repeatable, auditable imports, stop trying to brute-force it with your clipboard. Use a proper method:

• Edit in Excel (useful, but still needs discipline)

• Data import tools/structured templates (partner tools, integrations, or purpose-built import routines)

The clipboard is not a data migration strategy. It’s a temporary convenience.

Quick reference table

FAQs: Copy & Paste in Business Central

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