How to shift cells right 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 to the right, without disturbing the data. data down. For example, you may need to insert a new row header into a table in which case some data will have to be shifted to the right.

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 all 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 moved to the right