How to shift a row down 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 a row down, without disturbing the data. This could be to change the order of the rows or to insert a blank row.

Option 1 – Insert a row

Step 1 – Select the row

• Select all the cells with data in the row 

Step 2 – Open the Insert box

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

Step 3 – Choose the shift option

• Select Shift cells down
• Click OK

Step 4 – View the result

• The row is shifted down
• A blank row appears in its place

Option 2 – Drag and drop

Step 1 – Select the row

• Select the row to be shifted by clicking the row number/header
• Position the pointer at the border of the selected row

Step 2 – Drag and drop

• When the cursor changes to a move pointer, click the left mouse button
• Press the Shift key
• Holding down the button and the Shift key, drag the row down
• Release the mouse button when the row is in the new location

Note: If the Shift key is not held down, the row will overwrite the data in the new location

Option 3 – Cut & paste

Step 1 – Select the row

• Select the row to be shifted by clicking the row number/header

Step 2 – Cut the row

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

OR

Press Ctrl+X

Step 3 – Paste at the new location

• Select the row at the destination 
• Right-click to display the context menu
• Select Insert cut cells

Step 4 – View the result

• The row is shifted down