How to Flip Column Headings As Row Headings on an Excel Spreadsheet
Sometimes, the layout and appearance of the data in your Excel spreadsheet is just as important as the result of the calculations you perform on them. Data relationships and trends may become more obvious and easier to comprehend if you transpose the spreadsheet row and column headings along with the data they contain. You can use Excel’s paste special option to experiment with a different data arrangement by flipping your spreadsheet cells. The command arranges the row data as columns and vice versa.
Launch Excel. Open the Excel worksheet containing the cells you want to transpose.
Select the block of cells to transpose with your mouse. Right-click the mouse and click on "Copy."
Locate an empty portion of your spreadsheet to hold the data and headings from the cells you copied. Click the mouse in the cell where you want to place the copied cells.
Right-click your mouse. Click on the "Paste Special" menu option.
Click to place a check mark in the "Transpose" box of the “Paste Special” dialog. Click the "OK" button.
Delete the original cells if necessary.
- Apply text and cell styles to your column and row heads to help you quickly recognize your data in its new, transposed layout. Excel will retain all cell formatting changes even after you make the flip. Excel also retains relative cell references within all the formulas the transposed cells may contain.
- Excel may not retain the cell width and height adjustments you made in the original spreadsheet layout. If the resulting columns are too narrow, you will see "#" characters in the affected cells in place of numbers. Adjust the width of the columns, if necessary, to make your data viewable.
Allen Bethea has written articles on programming, web design,operating systems and computer hardware since 2002. He holds a Bachelor of Science from UNC-Chapel Hill and AAS degrees in office technology, mechanical engineering/drafting and internet technology. Allen has extensive experience with desktop and system software for both Windows and Linux operating systems.