Changing Rows and Columns of Data - Excel 2007 - Using the Keyboard

Changing Excel Rows to Columns and Columns to Rows

Here is a nice simple one for a Friday! Have you ever arranged a set of figures into a column in Excel only to realise that you would have been better off typing them as a row of figures? Well here's a neat thing - you can copy and paste data in columns to rows and vice versa, you don't have to retype it all...

Change a Column of Data to a Row of Data

1. Locate the column of cells you want to copy and select them using the SHIFT ARROW key method. Alternatively, if you want to select the whole column press the keystroke of CONTROL SPACEBAR.
2. Copy your selection to the clipboard using CONTROL C.
3. Move the cursor to the first cell in the destination row you want to paste to.
4. Press the ALT key to move to the upper ribbon then use the LEFT and RIGHT ARROW keys as necessary to ensure you have focus on the Home tab.
5. Press the DOWN ARROW to move to the lower ribbon and focus on the Paste button.
6. Press the SPACEBAR to open the Paste drop down menu and press the DOWN ARROW to highlight Paste Special... Press ENTER
7. In the Paste Special... dialog box use the TAB key to move the cursor to the Transpose checkbox. Press SPACEBAR to tick the checkbox.
8. Focus now returns to your worksheet - notice that your data is now pasted in as a row!

Change a Row of Data to a Column of Data

1. Navigate to the row of cells you want to copy and select them using the SHIFT ARROW key method. Alternatively, if you want to select the whole row press the keystroke of SHIFT SPACEBAR.
2. Copy your selection to the clipboard using CONTROL C.
3. Move the cursor to the first cell in the destination column you want to paste to.
4. Press the ALT key to move to the upper ribbon then use the LEFT and RIGHT ARROW keys as necessary to ensure you have focus on the Home tab.
5. Press the DOWN ARROW to move to the lower ribbon and focus on the Paste button.
6. Press the SPACEBAR to open the Paste drop down menu and press the DOWN ARROW to highlight Paste Special... Press ENTER
7. In the Paste Special... dialog box use the TAB key to move the cursor to the Transpose checkbox. Press SPACEBAR to tick the checkbox.
8. Focus now returns to your worksheet - notice that your data is now pasted in as a column!

NOTE: You don't need to navigate to Paste Special... in the ribbon, you can also access it from the right hand applications/context menu. Just tap the RIGHT HAND WINDOWS key or use SHIFT F10 instead and access Paste Special... from in there.

Pretty neat and potentially a real time saver - in fact, we'll be returning to some of the other Paste Special options in future posts.

Have fun!