Moving columns in word

To move a row or column using the mouse, follow these steps:

1. Select the entire row or column that you want to move.
2. Click on the highlighted row or column and hold down the mouse button.
3. Drag the row or column to the place where you want it to be.
4. Release the mouse button.

Why can’t I move my columns in Word?

Double-check the column settings you have in place to make sure the formatting is configured as required. Select the section of the text you’re working with, then choose “Columns” and “More Columns” from the Page Layout menu tab.

Can you swap columns in a table in Word?

Select the column you want to move. Press Ctrl+X, click on the cut tool on the toolbar, or choose Cut from the Edit menu. This removes the column from the table and copies it to the Clipboard. Move the insertion point to the beginning of the top cell of the column before which you want to place the column you just cut.

How do I swap columns and rows in Word?

Select an empty cell below your pasted table. Click the arrow under the “Paste” button on the ribbon and choose the “Transpose” option. Your table will appear flipped.

How do I move columns in Word without affecting other cells?

Case 1: Adjust the Width of One Column without Affecting Others

1. First, click “View” tab and then check the “Ruler” box in “Show” group.
2. Next you can see the ruler on the top of the document. And there are tabs on the ruler above each column border. Click on one of these tabs to adjust a specific column.

How do I move columns to columns in Word?

Press Alt+Page Down on the keyboard if you want to switch from current column to next column. Have in mind, this won’t work if next column is empty. If you are in next column you can switch to the top of the previous column by pressing Alt+Page Up on your keyboard.

How do I fix columns in Word?

To fit the columns to the text (or page margins if cells are empty), click [AutoFit] > select “AutoFit Contents.” To fit the table to the text, click [AutoFit] > select “AutoFit Window.” To keep Word from automatically adjusting your column size, click [AutoFit] > select “Fixed Column Width.”

How do I switch two columns in a table?

Move the mouse to the right edge of the column until your cursor changes to four arrows pointing in all directions. Left click on the edge of the column and hold the Shift key. Drag the column to the one you want to swap it with.

How do you switch columns in a table?

Shift Key

1. First, select a column.
2. Hover over the border of the selection.
3. Press and hold the Shift key on your keyboard.
4. Click and hold the left mouse button.
5. Move the column to the new position.
6. Release the left mouse button.
7. Release the shift key.

How do I invert two columns in Word?

Select the list, choose Table » Convert » Text to Table, make sure the Tabs option is selected and that the “Number of columns” box shows the right number of columns, and click the OK button to perform the conversion.

How do I swap lines in Word?

Word provides a handy shortcut that allows you to easily move rows around in a table. Simply follow these steps: Position the insertion point in the row you want to move or select the rows you want to move. While holding down the Shift and Alt keys, press the Up Arrow or Down Arrow to move the row.

How do I change a table to column in Word?

Convert a Table to Text

1. With the table selected, click the Layout tab.
2. Expand the Data group, if necessary.
3. Click the Convert to Text button.
4. Choose how you want the cells separated. You can separate the columns with new paragraph marks, tabs, or commas. You could also specify another custom separator.
5. Click OK.

How do you resize a column or width?

Select the column or columns that you want to change. On the Home tab, in the Cells group, click Format. Under Cell Size, click Column Width. In the Column width box, type the value that you want.

How do you change the width of a column without changing the whole?

To use AutoFit, click a cell in the row or column you want to change. Within the ribbon menu, click “Home.” Under “Cells,” click the “Format” button. Under “Cell Size” click “AutoFit Column Width” or “AutoFit Row Height” as desired.

How do I move one side of a table in Word?

Shift +Tab keys To move one cell backward in a table. Arrow keys Allow you to move left, right, up and down.

How do I move my cursor between columns in a Word document?

If you are working with multiple columns in your document, you may need to jump from column to column at times. The standard way to do this (using the keyboard) is to use the Alt key in conjunction with the up and down arrow keys. If you press Alt+Down Arrow, the insertion point is moved to the top of the next column.

How do you fix a fixed column width in Word?

Select your table. On the Layout tab, in the Cell Size group, click AutoFit. Click Fixed Column Width.

How do I remove a column break in Word?

To remove column breaks:

1. By default, breaks are hidden. If you want to show the breaks in your document, click the Show/Hide command on the Home tab.
2. Place the insertion point to the left of the break you want to delete.
3. Press the delete key to remove the break.

How do you move columns in Word for Mac?

Move columns: After selecting the columns, click and hold one of the column letters until the columns appear to rise off the table, then drag them to the right or left of another column.

How do you move a line right in Word?

Align the text left or right

1. Select the text that you want to align.
2. On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click Align Left or Align Right .

How do you move multiple lines in Word?

Margin+click and drag
If you drag while holding down the mouse, Word will select multiple lines, even paragraphs. Word will stop selecting when you stop dragging.

Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Moving Rows and Columns with the Mouse.

As long as you have the Allow Text to be Dragged and Dropped option turned on (in the Word Options dialog box, click on Advanced and then look in the Editing Options section), Word allows you to use the mouse for many routine editing tasks. One such task involves moving rows or columns within a table.

To move a row or column using the mouse, follow these steps:

1. Select the entire row or column that you want to move.
2. Click on the highlighted row or column and hold down the mouse button. Shortly the pointer should change to a «ghost» insertion point with a small box next to the pointer arrow.
3. Drag the row or column to the place where you want it to be. You should position the insertion point in the row or column before which your moved row or column will appear.
4. Release the mouse button. The row or column is moved.

Author Bio

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen…

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Introduction

Sometimes the information you include in your document is best displayed in columns. Not only can columns help improve readability, but some types of documents—like newspaper articles, newsletters, and flyers—are often written in column format. Word also allows you to adjust your columns by adding column breaks.

Optional: Download our practice document.

Watch the video below to learn more about columns in Word.

To add columns to a document:

1. Select the text you want to format.

   

2. Select the Layout tab, then click the Columns command. A drop-down menu will appear.
3. Select the number of columns you want to create.

   

4. The text will format into columns.

   

Your column choices aren’t limited to the drop-down menu that appears. Select More Columns at the bottom of the menu to access the Columns dialog box. Click the arrows next to Number of columns: to adjust the number of columns.

If you want to adjust the spacing and alignment of columns, click and drag the indent markers on the Ruler until the columns appear the way you want.

To remove columns:

To remove column formatting, place the insertion point anywhere in the columns, then click the Columns command on the Layout tab. Select One from the drop-down menu that appears.

Adding column breaks

Once you’ve created columns, the text will automatically flow from one column to the next. Sometimes, though, you may want to control exactly where each column begins. You can do this by creating a column break.

To add a column break:

In our example below, we’ll add a column break that will move text to the beginning of the next column.

1. Place the insertion point at the beginning of the text you want to move.

   

2. Select the Layout tab, then click the Breaks command. A drop-down menu will appear.
3. Select Column from the menu.

   

4. The text will move to the beginning of the column. In our example, it moved to the beginning of the next column.

   

To learn more about adding breaks to your document, visit our lesson on Breaks.

To remove column breaks:

1. By default, breaks are hidden. If you want to show the breaks in your document, click the Show/Hide command on the Home tab.

   
2. Place the insertion point to the left of the break you want to delete.

   

3. Press the delete key to remove the break.

   

Challenge!

1. Open our practice document.
2. Scroll to page 3.
3. Select all of the text in the bulleted list below Community Reminders and format it as two columns.
4. Place your cursor at the beginning of the fourth bullet in front of the word Visitors.
5. Insert a column break.
6. When you’re finished, your page should look something like this:

   

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Thursday, January 13th, 2011

Labels: columns, jump, move between columns, shortcut keys, switch, Word, Word 2003, Word 2007, Word 2010

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