How to shift cells in Excel

You can watch a video tutorial here.

Excel is a popular spreadsheet application in which the workspace is arranged as rows and columns in the form of a grid. Each intersection of a row and column is called a cell. When working with Excel, you may need to shift cells, without disturbing the data. 

Option 1 – Use the context menu

Step 1 – Select the cells

• Select the cells to be shifted

Step 2 – Open the Insert box

• Right-click to display the context menu
• Select Insert

Step 3 – Choose the shift option

• Select Shift cells right
• Click OK

Step 4 – View the result

• The cells have been shifted to the right
• The data next to the cells is also shifted
• Blank cells appear in place of the shifted cells

Option 2 – Drag and drop

Step 1 – Select the cells

• Select the cells to be shifted
• Position the pointer at the border of the selected area

Step 2 – Drag and drop

• When the cursor changes to a move pointer, click the left mouse button
• Holding down the button, drag the area down
• Release the mouse button when the cells are in the new location

Option 3 – Cut & paste

Step 1 – Select the cells

• Select all the cells to be shifted

Step 2 – Cut the cells

• Right-click to display the context menu and select Cut 

OR

Press Ctrl+X

Step 3 – Paste at the new location

• Position the cursor at the new location 
• Right-click to display the context menu
• Select Paste

OR

Press Ctrl+V

Step 4 – View the result

• The selected cells are shifted