How to Shift Cells Right in Excel (4 Quick Ways)

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While working on a worksheet, you may need to shift your existing cells to add some extra data in between. When cells are shifted, the content of existing cells shifts to adjust for the changes to adjacent cells. In addition, you need to ensure that your worksheet remains in an organized layout. In this article, you will learn the most efficient ways to shift cells right in Excel.


How to Shift Cells Right in Excel: 4 Suitable Ways

Consider the following scenario: you have data in existing cells that contain names of people from different countries. They have different room numbers to be allocated. But, suddenly you get that you need another column to categorize some extra data. Therefore, you have to Shift Cells to provide spaces in the data set.

Shift Cells Right


Method 1: Drag & Dropping to Shift Cells Right in Excel

Consider, you want to shift column D named with Room No. Now, We will use the drag and dropping method to achieve this.

Step 1:

  • Firstly, Select the cells in the range (D4:D12) you want to shift.

Drag & Dropping

Step 2:

  • Point to the border of the selection and a move pointer will appear.
  • Drag the selected cells to the right side of the selection.

Drag & Dropping


Method 2: Cut & Paste

Here, we will discuss another method (Cut & Paste) to shift cells right in Excel. In this method, we will first cut the cells in range and paste them to the nearby right column.

Step 1:

  • Firstly, Select the cells in the range you want to shift.
  • Then, press Ctrl+X to cut the selection.

Cut & Paste

Step 2:

  • Paste to the right side of the previous position.

Cut & Paste


Method 3: The Shift Cells Right Command

This method is probably the most convenient method to shift cells right where we use the Shift Cells Right Command.

Step: 1

  • Firstly, select the cell in range you want to shift and right-click after that.
  • Secondly, Choose Insert from the drop-down menu.

Shift Cells Right

Step 2:

  • Firstly, Choose shift cells right in the Insert Dialog.
  • Then, press Enter.

Shift Cells Right

As a result, the column containing current data will be shifted.

Shift Cells Right

Read More: How to Shift Cells Down in Excel


Method 4: Insert Column to Shift Cells in Excel

For obvious reasons, you may need to shift a large number of cells in a column.  At that time, it is very time-consuming to select again and again. So, here is a simple solution:

Step 1:

  • Firstly, double-Click the existing column D you want to shift. The entire column will be selected.
  • Secondly, Choose Insert from the drop-down.

Insert Column

Therefore, a new column will be added and the existing one will be shifted.

Insert Column


✍ Things to Remember

⏩ Make sure that your selection of cells is always correct.

⏩ Be careful while shifting. Disorganized shifting causes hamper with data loss or change in Format and Layout


Download Practice Workbook

Download this practice workbook to exercise while you are reading this article.


Conclusion

In conclusion, Thank you for reading this article. Using these methods, you can easily shift cell to right. If you have any questions – Feel free to ask us. We, The Exceldemy Team, are always responsive to your queries.


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Bhubon Costa
Bhubon Costa

Myself, Bhubon Costa, an engineer, is currently employed with Exceldemy as an Excel & VBA Content Developer. I appreciate solving analytical difficulties, finding practical answers, and, for the most part, I enjoy taking on new tasks. I write articles on Exceldemy about various ways to get out of Microsoft Excel's stuck conditions. My passion is to leave my mark on the world through my work and to have an impact on the community who benefit from it.

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