sorry if this is a bad question, but I followed all of the steps, and after exporting my keys (I followed every step to a T) and pasting them, it still won't let me proceed. there is a "back" option, and a grayed out "next" option. what should I do? Apologies in advance for asking a dumb IT question
'Next' in Electrum is grayed-out because you've pasted an invalid private key in there.
Probably what hosseinimr93 has pointed-out or there's still spaces.
Another possible issue is, you might have selected the wrong option when creating a new 'imported' Electrum wallet.
You have to select "
Import bitcoin addresses or private keys" instead of standard wallet.