How to Adding To Sheets—Inserting Rows, Columns and Cells microsoft Excel 2010

Having the capability to add rows, columns, and cells raises the obvious question: if you have all those
billions of cells to begin with, why would you need to supplement them with even more? The answer—or
at least the standard answer—is that after you’ve constructed a table, for instance, you may decide you
need an extra field’s worth of data—and that decision means you’ll have to introduce a new column into
the table. And if you want that column to appear  between  two columns already in place, you’ll need to
insert another one. If, on the other hand, you’ve entered data all over the worksheet and you’d like to see
them a bit closer to one another, you may want to delete a column or two.
The means for adding and deleting columns or rows are pretty easy (although as usual, there’s
more than one way. We’re demonstrating the most straightforward approach here). But before we
demonstrate how it’s done, we need to anticipate and answer a big question—namely, what happens
to cell references when additions or deletions are carried out? 
For example, suppose you’ve written this formula in cell H3:
=AVERAGE(B17:B32)
If you delete any of columns between C and H, will the cells referred to in that expression change?
After all, delete one such column and the formula now appears in cell G3–and as a result, will the
formula read

=AVERAGE(A17:A32) ?
The answer is no. When you add or delete rows or columns, Excel  maintains the existing cell
references that might otherwise be impacted by the additions or deletions, so not to worry.  But keep in
mind that if you insert a row or column such that cells contributing  to a formula are repositioned, the
formula  will rewrite itself correspondingly. If a column is added to the left of the B column in the first
example above, the formula will now read
=AVERAGE(C17:C32)
Because the values being added are now in column C.
Inserting a Column
To go ahead and insert a column, just click anywhere in the column to the  right of where you want the
new one to be inserted. Thus if you want to insert a column between H and I, click any cell in I. Then
cl i ck  Home  Cells button group    Insert    Insert Sheet Columns  (Figure7–1):

Figure 7–1. Where to insert a column or a row

The new column will slide into place, and will claim the column letter I. The original column I will
move to the right, and become J, and so on. If you want to insert multiple columns, just drag across as
many consecutive columns as you wish and execute the above conmands. You’ll insert as many
columns as you’ve selected—and they’ll appear to the  right of the selection. Thus if you select cells
R3:S3 an d cl i ck In se r t She e t Col umn s, R an d S wi l l  be come  T  an d U—be cause  e ach wi l l  hav e  mov e d
two columns rightward. 

Inserting a Row

The procedure for inserting rows is basically identical. Click in the row  beneath which  you want to
insert a new one and click the above commands, culminating with  Insert Sheet Rows  instead. Thus if
you click in row 17, you’ll insert a new row above the original 17— which becomes the “new” row 17,
whilst the original row 17 is now bumped to 18. To insert multiple rows select as many rows as you
wish to insert.

Deleting Rows and Columns

To delete rows or columns, click anywhere in the column or columns you wish to delete and click
Home   Cells button group  Delete    Delete Sheet Rows or   Columns. (Yes, you can Undo these
commands). Just keep in mind that if you delete the cells whose data contribute to a formula, that
formula will suddenly have nothing to work with—and instead of a result, you’ll be left with an error
message in the cell instead. 

Inserting and Deleting Cells

You can also insert and delete selected cells, not just entire rows and columns, a possibility which is
curiously piecemeal. If you click in cell A12 and carry out the Insert Cells command, you’ll push A12
down  a r ow– but y ou won’t push down row 12 in its entirety. Only the A column will be affected by the
command. Any data in cell B12 will remain there, for example. 
To insert or delete cells, click in the cell or cells in question and click either the Insert or Delete
buttons we described in the previous to command sequences, but click Insert Cells… or   Delete Cells…
instead. Click Insert Cells and you’ll see (Figure 7–2):

Figure 7–2. Where to insert selected cells Click OK. If you select Shift cells right, all the cells to the right of the cell(s) in which you click will
move in that direction—but not the cells to their left. The other two options you see— Entire row  and
Entire column—are nothing but alternatives to the Insert Row and Columns commands we’ve already
de scr i be d.
To delete selected cells, click in the cells you wish to delete and click Delete Cells… in the Cells
button group (Figure7–3).

Figure 7–3. Going in reverse: where to delete selected cells.

Note here that deleted cells move the remaining cells that are to their right to the left , and cells
be n e ath the m wi l l  be  shi fte d up.