Column groups in excel

Grouping Columns in Excel (Table of Content)

• Excel Grouping Columns
• How to Enable Grouping of Columns in Excel?

Excel Grouping Columns

Sometimes the worksheet contains complex data, which is very difficult to read & analyze, to Access & read these types of data in an easier way, the grouping of cells will help you out. Grouping of columns or rows is used if you want to visually group of items or to monitor them in a concise & organized manner under one heading or if you want to hide or show data for better display & presentation. Grouping is very useful & most commonly used in accounting & finance spreadsheets. Under the Data tab in the Ribbon, you can find the Group option in the outline section. In this topic, we are going to learn about Grouping Columns in Excel.

Shortcut Key to Group Columns or Rows

Shift+Alt+Right Arrow is the shortcut key to group columns or rows, whereas

Shift+Alt+Left Arrow is the shortcut key to ungroup columns or rows.

Definition Grouping of Columns in Excel

It’s a process where you visually group the column items or datasets for a better display.

How to Enable Grouping of Columns in Excel?

Let’s check out how to group columns & How to collapse & expand columns after grouping columns.

You can download this Grouping Columns Excel Template here – Grouping Columns Excel Template

Example #1 – Grouping of Columns in Excel

Grouping of columns in Excel works out well for structured data where it should contain column headings, and it should not have a blank column or row data.

Initially, you need to select the column in which you want to group it (i.e. B, C, D, E columns). Go to the Data tab, then click on the group option under the outline section.

Click on the columns and then press OK.

Now you can observe in data, the columns are grouped perfectly, and the outline bars you can observe at the top represent different levels of data organization. Grouping also introduces a toggle option, or it will create a hierarchy of groups, which is known as an outline, to help your worksheet appear in an organized manner, where each bar represents a level of organization (Grouping is also referred to as Outlines.)

How to Collapse & Expand Columns After Column Grouping

you can press the “-” buttons in the margin to collapse the columns (B, C, D, E Columns completely disappears) or in case If you want to expand them again, press the “+” buttons in the margin (B, C, D, E Columns appears)

Another way to access data is the use of 1 or 2 options on the left side of the worksheet, i.e. it is called a state, 1st option is called a hidden state (if you click on it, it will hide B, C, D, E Columns) whereas 2nd option is called unhidden state, it will expand those hidden columns, I.E. B, C, D, E Columns appears

To Ungroup Columns in Excel

Select the columns you wish to ungroup (i.e. the columns which you have previously grouped). On the Data tab, in the Outline group, click on Ungroup command.

Click on the columns and then press OK.

Now, you can observe data bars & “+” buttons and “-” buttons disappear in the excel sheet once the ungroup option is selected.

Example #2 – Multiple Grouping of Columns for Sales Data in Excel

In the below-mentioned example, the Table contains product monthly sales data from Jan to Dec month, and it is also represented in quarterly & yearly sales.

Here the data is structured and does not contain any blank cells, hidden rows, or columns.

I don’t want all the monthly sales data to be displayed; I want only quarterly & yearly sales data to be displayed; it can be done through multiple grouping of column options.

Initially, I need to select the column which I want to group it; now, let’s select the months (i.e. Jan, Feb, Mar columns). Go to the Data tab in the Home ribbon, and it will open a toolbar below the ribbon, then click on the group option under the outline section; now you can observe in a data, the columns are grouped perfectly.

Click on the columns and then press OK.

A similar procedure is applied or followed for the month of Apr, May, Jun & Jul, Aug, Sep & Oct, Nov, Dec columns.

Once the grouping of the above-mentioned monthly columns is done, you can observe that the columns are grouped perfectly in a dataset. The four outline bars you can observe at the top represent different data organisation levels.

Collapsing & Expanding Columns After Column Grouping

You can press the “–” symbol or buttons in the outline bar to collapse all the month columns; once you are done, you can observe all the month Columns completely disappears, and Positive or “+” buttons in the outline bar appear.

Now, the sales data looks in a concise & compact form, and it looks well-organized & structured financial data. In case if you want to check any specific monthly sales data, you can expand them again by pressing the “+” buttons in in outline bar so that again, all the monthly sales data will appear.

Another way to access or hide monthly data is the use of 1 or 2 options on the left side of the worksheet, i.e. it is called a state, 1st option is called a hidden state (On a single click on it, it will hide all the month Columns) whereas 2nd option is called unhidden state, it will expand those hidden columns, I.E. all the month Columns appears.

Things to Remember

Grouping columns or rows in Excel is useful to create and maintain well-organized and well-structured financial sales data.

It is a better & superior alternative for hiding & unhiding cells; sometimes, it is not clear to the other user of the excel spreadsheet if you use the hide option. He needs to track which columns or rows you have hidden & where you have hidden.

Prior to applying grouping of columns or rows in excel, You have to ensure that your structured data should not contain any hidden or blank rows & columns; otherwise, your data will be grouped incorrectly.

Apart from grouping, you can also do summarization of datasets in different groups with the help of the Subtotal command.

Recommended Articles

This has been a guide to Grouping Columns in Excel. Here we discussed How to Enable Grouping of Columns in Excel along with Examples and a downloadable excel template. You may also look at these useful functions in excel –

1. Excel Move Columns
2. VBA Columns
3. Freeze Columns in Excel
4. Switching Columns in Excel

How to Group in Excel

Get a handle on your data

In This Article

Jump to a Section

Grouping rows and columns in Excel lets you collapse and expand sections of a worksheet. This can make large and complex datasets much easier to understand. Views become compact and organized. This article shows you step-by-step how to group and view your data.

Instructions in this article apply to Excel 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007; Excel for Microsoft 365, Excel Online and Excel for Mac.

Grouping in Excel

You can create groups by either manually selecting the rows and columns to include, or you can get Excel to automatically detect groups of data. Groups can also be nested inside other groups to create a multi-level hierarchy. Once your data is grouped, you can individually expand and collapse groups, or you can expand and collapse all groups at a given level in the hierarchy.

Groups provide a really useful way to navigate and view large and complex spreadsheets. They make it much easier to focus on the data that’s important. If you need to make sense of complex data you should definitely be using Groups and could also benefit from Power Pivot For Excel.

How to Use Excel to Group Rows Manually

To make Excel group rows, the simplest method is to first select the rows you want to include, then make them into a group.

For the group of rows you want to group, select the first row number and drag down to the last row number to select all the rows in the group.

Select the Data tab > Group > Group Rows, or simply select Group, depending on which version of Excel you’re using.

A thin line will appear to the left of the row numbers, indicating the extent of the grouped rows.

Select the minus (-) to collapse the group. Small boxes containing the numbers one and two also appear at the top of this region, indicating the worksheet now has two levels in its hierarchy: the groups and the individual rows within the groups.

The rows have been grouped and can now be collapsed and expanded as required. This makes it much easier to focus on just the relevant data.

How to Manually Group Columns in Excel

To make Excel group columns, the steps are almost the same as doing so for rows.

For the group of columns you want to group, select the first column letter and drag right to the last column letter, thereby selecting all the columns in the group.

Select the Data tab > Group > Group Columns, or select Group, depending on which version of Excel you’re using.

A thin line will appear above the column letters. This line indicates the extent of the grouped columns.

Select the minus (-) to collapse the group. Small boxes containing the numbers one and two also appear at the top of this region, indicating the worksheet now has two levels in its hierarchy for columns, as well as for rows.

The rows have been grouped and can now be collapsed and expanded as required.

How to Make Excel Group Columns and Rows Automatically

While you could repeat the above steps to create each group in your document, Excel can automatically detect groups of data and do it for you. Excel creates groups where formulas reference a continuous range of cells. If your worksheet doesn’t contain any formulas, Excel won’t be able to automatically create groups.

Select the Data tab > Group > Auto Outline and Excel will create the groups for you. In this example, Excel correctly identified each of the groups of rows. Because there’s no annual total for each spending category, it has not automatically grouped the columns.

This option isn’t available in Excel Online, if you’re using Excel Online, you’ll need to create groups manually.

How to Create a Multi-Level Group Hierarchy in Excel

In the previous example, categories of income and expense were grouped together. It would make sense to also group all of the data for each year. You can do this manually by applying the same steps as you used to create the first level of groups.

Select all of the rows to be included.

Select the Data tab > Group > Group Rows, or select Group, depending on which version of Excel you are using.

Another thin line will appear to the left of the lines representing the existing groups and indicating the extent of the new group of rows. The new group encompasses two of the existing groups and there are now three small numbered boxes at the top of this region, signifying the worksheet now has three levels in its hierarchy.

The spreadsheet now contains two levels of groups, with individual rows within the groups.

How to Automatically Create Multi-Level Hierarchy

Excel uses formulas to detect multi-level groups, just as it uses them to detect individual groups. If a formula references more than one of the other formulas which define groups, this indicates these groups are part of a parent group.

Keeping with the cash flow example, if we add a Gross Profit row to each year, which is simply the income minus the expenses, then this allows Excel to detect that each year is a group and the income and expenses are sub-groups within these. Select the Data tab > Group > Auto Outline to automatically create these multi-level groups.

How to Expand and Collapse Groups

The purpose of creating these groups of rows and/or columns is that it allows regions of the spreadsheet to be hidden, providing a clear overview of the entire spreadsheet.

To collapse all of the rows, select the number 1 box at the top of the region to the left of the row numbers.

Select the number two box to expand the first level of groups and make the second level of groups visible. The individual rows within the second level groups remain hidden.

Select the number three box to expand the second level of groups so the individual rows within these groups also become visible.

It’s also possible to expand and collapse individual groups. To do so, select the Plus (+) or Minus (-) that appears to mark a group that’s either collapsed or expanded. In this way, groups at different levels in the hierarchy can be viewed as required.

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Group in Excel

The best way to keep spreadsheets organized

Guide on How to Group in Excel

Grouping rows and columns in Excel[1] is critical for building and maintaining a well-organized and well-structured financial model. Using the Excel group function is the best practice when it comes to staying organized, as you should never hide cells in Excel. This guide will show you how to group in Excel with step-by-step instructions, examples, and screenshots.

Keyboard Shortcuts Sheet

Looking to be an Excel wizard? Increase your productivity with CFI’s comprehensive keyboard shortcuts guide.

Excel Group Function

The Excel group function is one of the best secrets a world-class financial analyst uses to make their work extremely organized and easy for other users of the spreadsheet to understand.

Reasons to use the Excel Group Function:

• To easily expand and contract sections of a worksheet
• To minimize schedules or side calculations that other users might not need
• To keep information organized
• As a substitute for creating new sheets (tabs)
• As a superior alternative to hiding cells

The function is found in the Data section of the Ribbon, then Group.

Example of How to Group in Excel

Let’s look at a simple exercise to see how it works. Suppose we have a schedule in a worksheet that is becoming quite long, and we want to reduce the amount of detail that’s shown. The screenshots below will show you how to properly implement grouping in Excel.

Here are the steps to follow to group rows:

1. Select the rows you wish to add grouping to (entire rows, not just individual cells)
2. Go to the Data Ribbon
3. Select Group
4. Select Group again

You can repeat the steps above as many times as you like, and you can also apply it to columns as well.

Once you’re finished, you can press the “-” buttons in the margin to collapse the rows or columns.

If you want to expand them again, press the “+” buttons in the margin, as shown in the screenshot below.

There is also a “1” button in the top left corner to collapse all groups, and a “2” button to expand all groups.

Why You Should Never Hide Cells in Excel

Though many people do it, you should never hide cells in Excel (or spreadsheets either, for that matter). The reason is that Excel does not make it clear to the user of the spreadsheet that cells have been hidden, and thus they may go unnoticed.

The only way to see that cells are hidden is to notice that the row number or column number suddenly jumps (e.g., from row 25 to row 167).

Since other users of the spreadsheet may not notice this (and you may forget yourself) you should never hide cells in Excel.

Download Excel Group Template

You can download the Template for free if you wish to use it as an example or starting point for how to group in Excel and apply it to your own work and financial analysis.

Additional Resources

Thank you for reading CFI’s guide to Group in Excel. To continue learning and advancing your career, these additional CFI resources will be helpful:

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How to group columns in Excel

by Alexander Frolov, updated on March 7, 2023

The tutorial looks at how to group columns in Excel manually and use the Auto Outline feature to group columns automatically.

If you feel overwhelmed or confused about the extensive content of your worksheet, you can organize columns in groups to easily hide and show different parts of your sheet, so that only the relevant information is visible.

How to group columns in Excel

When grouping columns in Excel, it’s best to do this manually because the Auto Outline feature often delivers controversial results.

Note. To avoid incorrect grouping, make sure your worksheet does not have any hidden columns.

To group columns in Excel, perform these steps:

1. Select the columns you want to group, or at least one cell in each column.
2. On the Data tab, in the Outline group, click the Group button. Or use the Shift + Alt + Right Arrow shortcut.
3. If you’ve selected cells rather than entire columns, the Group dialog box will appear asking you to specify exactly what you want grouped. Obviously, you choose Columns and click OK.
   

To see how it works in practice, let’s group all the intermediate columns in the below dataset. For this, we highlight columns B through I, and click Group:

This creates the level 1 outline like shown below:

Clicking the minus (-) sign at the top of the group or the outline number 1 in the upper-left corner hides all the columns within the group:

Create nested column groups

Within any group, you can outline multiple groups at inner levels. To create an inner, nested group of columns, this is what you need to do:

1. Select the columns to be included in the inner group.
2. On the Data tab, in the Outline group, click Group. Or press the Shift + Alt + Right Arrow shortcut.

In our dataset, to group the Q1 details, we select columns B through D and click Group:

In the same fashion, you can group Q2 details (columns F through H).

Note. As only adjacent columns can be grouped, you will have to repeat the above steps for each inner group individually.

As the result, we now have 2 levels of grouping:

• Outer group (level 1) — columns B through I
• Two inner groups (level 2) — columns B — D and F — H.

Clicking the minus (-) button above the inner group contracts only that particular group. Clicking the number 2 in the upper-left corner collapses all the groups of this level:

To make the hidden data visible again, expand the column group by clicking the plus (+) button. Or you can expand all the groups at a given level by clicking the outline number.

• To quickly hide or show the outline bars and numbers, press the Ctrl + 8 keys together. Pressing the shortcut for the first time hides the outline symbols, pressing it again redisplays the outline.
• If the outline symbols don’t show up in your Excel, make sure the Show outline symbols if an outlineis applied check box is selected in your settings: File tab >Options >Advanced category.

How to auto outline columns in Excel

Microsoft Excel can also create an outline of columns automatically. This works with the following caveats:

• There should be no blank columns in your dataset. If there are any, remove them as described in this guide.
• To the right of each group of detail columns, there should be a summary column with formulas.

In our dataset, there are 3 summary columns like show below:

To auto outline columns in Excel, do the following:

1. Select the dataset or any single cell within it.
2. On the Data tab, click the arrow below Group, and then click Auto Outline.
   

In our case, the Auto Outline feature created two groups for Q1 and Q2 data. If you also want an outer group for columns B — I, you’ll have to create it manually as explained in the first part of this tutorial.

If your summary columns are placed to the left of the detail columns, proceed in this way:

Click a small arrow in the lower-right corner of the Outline group, which is called the dialog box launcher.

In the Settings dialog box that pops up, clear the Summary columns to right of detail box, and click OK.

After that, use the Auto Outline feature as explained above, and you will get the following result:

How to hide and show grouped columns

Depending on how many groups you want to cover up or display, use one of the below techniques.

Hide and show a particular column group

• To hide the data within a certain group, click the minus (-) sign for the group.
• To show the data within a certain group, click the plus (+) sign for the group.

Expand or collapse the whole outline to a given level

To hide or show the entire outline to a certain level, click the corresponding outline number.

For example, if your outline has three levels, you can hide all the groups of the second level by clicking the number 2. To expand all the groups, click the number 3.

Hide and show all of the grouped data

• To hide all the groups, click the number 1. This will display the lowest level of detail.
• To display all the data, click the highest outline number. For example, if you have four levels, click the number 4.

Our sample dataset has 3 outline levels:

Level 1 — only shows Items and Grand Total (columns A and J) while hiding all intermediate columns.

Level 2 – in addition to level 1, also displays Q1 and Q2 totals (columns E and I).

Level 3 — shows all the data.

How to copy only visible columns

After hiding some column groups, you may want to copy the displayed data somewhere else. The problem is that highlighting the outlined data in the usual way selects all the data, including the hidden columns.

To select and copy only visible columns, this is what you need to do:

1. Use the outline symbols to hide the columns that you don’t want copied.
2. Select the visible columns using the mouse.
3. On the Home tab, in the Editing group, click Find & Select >Go To.
4. In the Go To Special dialog box, select Visible cells only, and click OK.
   

Now that you have only the visible cells selected, press Ctrl + C to copy them.

Click the destination cell and press Ctrl + V to paste the copied data.

How to ungroup columns in Excel

Microsoft Excel provides an option to remove all groupings at once or ungroup certain columns only.

How to remove the entire outline

To remove all groupings at a time, go to the Data tab > Outline group, click the arrow under Ungroup, and then click Clear Outline.

• Clearing outline only removes the outline symbols; it does not delete any data.
• If some column groups were collapsed while clearing outline, those columns might remain hidden after the outline is removed. To display the data, undie columns manually.
• Once the outline is cleared, it’s not possible to get it back with Undo. You will have to recreate the outline from scratch.

How to ungroup specific columns

To remove grouping for certain columns without removing the entire outline, these are the steps to perform:

1. Select the rows you want to ungroup. For this, you can hold down the Shift key while clicking the plus (+) or minus (-) button for the group.
2. On the Data tab, in the Outline group, and click the Ungroup button. Or press the Shift + Alt + Left Arrow keys together, which is the ungrouping shortcut in Excel.
   

That’s how to group and auto outline columns in Excel. I thank you for reading and hope to see you on our blog next week.

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