How to Shift Cells in Excel: 5 Easy Methods

Method 1 – Using Copy and Paste Commands

Step 1:

Select the cell range B5:B9, as I want to copy the employees’ names rather than write them again.

Step 2:

Right-click on the mouse after selecting the cell range and then choose Copy from the context menu.
You can press the keyboard shortcut CTRL + C to copy the cell range.

Step 3:

Select a cell from the destination cell range and then again right-click on the mouse and select the Paste icon like the following image.
Press CTRL +V on your keyboard to do the same.

Step 4:

Find the copied data in cell range B12:B16.

Notes:

If you want to move cells in Excel with a keyboard and use shortcuts, then select any cell with data, then press CTRL + X, thirdly with the help of the arrow keys of the keyboard go to the desired location and press CTRL + V.

Methods 2 – Utilizing Dragging and Dropping

Step 1:

Select the cell range (B5:B9) for shifting.

Step 2:

Move your mouse to the border of any side of the selected cell range, and you will find your mouse with a double cross arrow like the following image.
Drag the mouse icon to the desired cell location and drop it there.

Step 3:

Fnd the dragged cell range in the destination.
Follow this method to shift any cells in an up, down or sideward positions.

Method 3 – Applying Insert Option to Shift Cells in Excel

Step 1:

Show you the process to shift an entire column.
Select the desired column header at the top of the data set in the worksheet.

Step 2:

Right-click on the mouse and select Insert.

Step 3:

Shift the existing column to the right and create a new one.
Fill up that column with the required data.

Step 4:

Select the desired row header on the right side of the data set to shift rows in Excel.
Again right-click on the mouse and select Insert.

Step 5:

Consequently, you will see the newly created row at row number 7.

Step 6:

Fill up the newly created row with the necessary data.

Method 4 – Shifting Cells Along Column and Row

Step 1:

Select any cell from the data set and right-click on the mouse.
From the context menu, choose the Insert command.

Step 2:

Shift cells along the row, choose Shift cells down from the Insert dialog box.
Press OK.

Step 3:

See the selected cells have been shifted along the row by one row.

Step 4:

To shift the cell along the column, select any cell from the data set.
Choose Insert from the context menu after right-clicking on the mouse.

Step 5:

Select the Shift cells right command from the Insert dialog box.
Press OK.

Step 6:

This will shift the cells along the column by one column.

Method 5 – Applying VBA to Shift Cells in Excel

Step 1:

Shift the value of the cell range B5:B9 to the cell range B12:B6 through VBA.
Go to the Developer tab and select Visual Basic.

Step 2:

See the VBA window after the previous step.
Fom the Insert tab use Module.

Step 3:

Copy the following VBA code and paste it into the module.

Sub Shifting_Cells_in_Excel()
'Selecting the cell range for shifting
Range("B5:B9").Select
'Cutting the cell range and selecting new cell destination
Selection.Cut Destination:=Range("B12:B16")
'Shifting cells in new destination
Range("B12:B16").Select
End Sub

VBA Breakdown

Set the name of the sub-procedure.

Sub Shifting_Cells_in_Excel()

Select the cell range for shifting.

Range("B5:B9").Select

Cut the selected cell range and paste them into the desired cell range location.

Selection.Cut Destination:=Range("B12:B16")
Range("B12:B16").Select

Step 4:

Save the code in the module.
Keeping the cursor in the module, press F5 or the Play button.

Step 5:

Find the cell range in the desired destination after playing the code.

Applying Formula to Move Data from One Cell to Another

Step 1:

Take the following data set to perform the procedure.
Apply a formula to move the employee name.

Step 2:

To do that, write the following formula in cell C11 to copy the data of cell B8.

=B8

Step 3:

After pressing Enter, it will show the same data as cell B8.

Easy Way to Move Partial Data from One Cell to Another in Excel

Step 1:

Look at the following data set, where each cell contains more than one value.
I will demonstrate the way to move partial data from these cells.
To do that, select the cell range B4:B8 and then go to the Data tab of the ribbon.
From the Data Tools group select Text to Columns.

Step 2:

See the Convert Text to Columns Wizard dialog box with steps 1 to 3.
In Step 1 of the dialog box, firstly, choose Delimited and then Next.