Webucator's Free Introduction to Microsoft Excel Tutorial
Lesson: Working with Rows and Columns
Welcome to our free Introduction to Microsoft Excel tutorial. This tutorial is based on Webucator's Introduction to Microsoft Excel 2019 Training course.
In this lesson, you will learn to work with rows and columns.
Lesson Goals
- Learn to insert rows and columns in Microsoft Excel worksheets.
- Learn to delete rows and columns in Microsoft Excel worksheets.
- Learn to transpose rows and columns.
- Learn to change row heights.
- Learn to change column widths.
- Learn to hide and unhide rows and columns.
- Learn to freeze panes.
Inserting Rows and Columns
To insert a row or a column into a Microsoft Excel worksheet:
- Select a cell in your worksheet where you would like the new row or column to be inserted. To insert multiple rows or columns, simply select multiple cells.
- New rows are inserted above the selected cell(s).
- New columns are inserted to the left of selected cell(s).
- On the Home tab, in the Cells group, click the Insert command.
- Select Insert Sheet Rows or Insert Sheet Columns:
Deleting Rows and Columns
To delete a row or a column in a Microsoft Excel worksheet:
- Select a cell in your worksheet in the row or column you wish to delete. To delete multiple rows or columns, simply select multiple cells.
- On the Home tab, in the Cells group, click the Delete command.
- Select Delete Sheet Rows or Delete Sheet Columns:
Setting Row Height and Column Width
Set a Specific Height or Width
To change the row height or column width of rows and columns in a Microsoft Excel worksheet:
- Select a cell in your worksheet in the row or column of which you wish to change the height or width. To change the height or width of multiple rows or columns, simply select multiple cells.
- On the Home tab, in the Cells group, click the Format command.
- Select Row Height or Column Width:
- In the Row Height dialog box or the Column Width dialog box, enter the new size of the row or column:
- Rows are measured in points, with each point equaling approximately 1/72 of an inch.
- Columns are measured in characters, so the value entered is equal to the number of characters that will fit in the cell (assuming you are using the standard font).
AutoFit Row Height or Column Width
When you AutoFit the row height or column width, Excel sets the height or width based on the contents in the row or column. To AutoFit the row height or column width:
- Select a cell in your worksheet in the row or column of which you wish to change the height or width. To change the height or width of multiple rows or columns, simply select multiple cells.
- On the Home tab, in the Cells group, click the Format command.
- Select AutoFit Row Height or AutoFit Column Width:
Freezing Panes
Freezing panes is a way of making one or more rows or columns stay at the top or left of your worksheet as you scroll through the worksheet. A common use of freezing panes is to keep a header row in view as you scroll through a large worksheet.
In the following example, notice that the top row includes labels for each column:
After scrolling down in the worksheet, however, the top row is not visible:
In the following image, the top row is frozen, so the labels are visible even after scrolling down in the worksheet:
To freeze panes in a Microsoft Excel worksheet:
- On the View tab, in the Window group, click the Freeze Panes command.
- Select Freeze Panes to freeze the rows above and the columns to the left of the selected cell.
- Select Freeze Top Row to freeze the top row only.
- Select Freeze First Column to freeze the first column only.
Working with Rows and Columns
Duration: 5 to 10 minutes.
In this exercise, you will insert rows into a Microsoft Excel worksheet, hide rows, and adjust column widths and row heights.
- Continue working in the workbook from the last exercise or open Dave's Lemonade Stand - Working with Rows and Columns.xlsx from your Excel2019.1/Exercises folder.
- Insert two rows between row 7 and row 8.
- Hide the inserted rows.
- Increase the width of column A to 25.
- Increase the width of columns B:E to 17.
- Autofit row heights for all active rows.
- Save the workbook.