SECTION 2
Lesson 2.4 Moving your Data

   

 

 

Suppose you are building a worksheet with Excel 2003, and you realize that you forgot to include a row or column of important data. It could also be the case, that a row or column of data is unnecessary, or contains multiple errors and must be removed.

 

Excel provides a simple way for you to delete or insert columns or rows if you have to.

 

To insert a column in a worksheet, right click on the letter at the top of the column.

 

A drop down menu will be displayed.

 

Click the Insert option from the menu and all of the data to the right of, and including the highlighted column, will be shifted one column to the right.

 

In this example, the data in column E will now be shifted to column F, The data in column F to column G, and the data in column G to column H and so on.

 

 

 Now there is an empty column where you can enter a new label and data.

 

 

This procedure is essentially the same for inserting rows. To insert a row, just right click on the row number and choose Insert from the menu. All of the data in the row you selected as your insertion point, and the data in the rows beneath it, will be shifted down one row. This will leave an empty row where you can insert additional information.

 

 

A worksheet just before inserting a row at position 5.

 

A worksheet just after inserting a row at position 5.

 

 

It is also a straight forward manner to delete rows and columns. To delete a column, right click on the letter at the top of the column and choose Delete from the drop down menu. All of the data to the right of the column will be shifted one row to the left, and the old information will be replaced with the data that was in the column to the immediate right.

 

To delete a row, right click on the row number and choose Delete from the drop down menu.

All of the data below the column will be shifted up one row, and the old information will be replaced with the data that was in the row directly beneath.

 

To insert a cell, right click on it, and the Insert dialogue box will appear.

 

 

When you insert a cell, the existing data must be relocated. You can click the radio buttons in the dialogue box to specify how the data will be moved. Selecting Shift cells right and clicking OK will move the item in the active cell, and all the items to the right of it, one cell further to the right, leaving a blank cell at the original location. For example, the data in cell A1 would move to B1, and the data in B1 would move to C1 and so on, leaving cell A1 empty.

 

Selecting Shift cells down will perform a similar operation, but in the direction of the bottom of the worksheet. For example, if you inserted a cell at location B1, the data in B1 would shift to B2 and the Data in B2 would shit to B3, and so on, leaving B1 empty.

 

The Entire row or Entire column options allow you to insert a row or a column as previously discussed.  

 

 

Before inserting a cell at D7

 

 

 

After inserting a cell at D7 (shifting cells right)