How to Add and Delete rows and columns in Excel quickly

 Ctrl + Shift + " + " (plus sign)

Note: If you have a keyboard with a Keypad to the right of a regular keyboard, use the + there without the Shift key. The main combination is:

 Ctrl + " + " (plus sign)

Before adding a row, tell Excel where you want to insert the new one by selecting its neighbors. This can also be done using the keyboard shortcut:

 Shift + Spacebar

Excel inserts a new row above the selected row.

To add a row using keyboard shortcuts

1. Select a cell in the row where you want to add the new row.
2. Press and hold the Shift key on the keyboard
3. Press the spacebar without releasing the Shift key.
4. The entire row is highlighted.
5. Press and hold the Ctrl and Shift keys on the keyboard.
6. Press the “+” key without releasing the Ctrl and Shift keys.
7. A new row is added above the selected row.

To add multiple adjacent rows using the keyboard shortcut

Tell Excel how many new adjacent columns you want to add to your spreadsheet by selecting the same number of existing columns.
Suppose you want to insert two new columns and select two existing columns to place the new column. If you wish to three new columns, select three existing columns.

To add three new rows to a worksheet

1. Select a cell in the row where you want to add the new rows.
2. Press and hold the Shift key.
3. Press the spacebar without releasing the Shift key.
4. The entire row is highlighted.
5. Continue holding the Shift key.
6. Press the Up arrow key twice to select two additional rows.
7. Press and hold the Ctrl and Shift keys.
8. Press the “+” key without releasing the Ctrl and Shift keys.
9. Three new rows are added above the selected rows.

The option in the context menu (also known as the right-click menu) to add rows to the worksheet is Insert.

Like the keyboard method above, before adding a row, tell Excel where you want to insert the new one by selecting its neighbors.

The easiest way to add rows using the context menu is to select an entire row by selecting the row header.

To add a row to a spreadsheet

1. Select the row header of a row where you want to add a new row. The entire row is highlighted.
2. Right-click on the selected row to open the context menu.
3. Select Insert from the menu.
4. A new row is added above the selected row.

To add more adjacent rows

Tell Excel how many new rows you want to add to the spreadsheet by selecting the same number of existing rows.

To add three new rows to a worksheet

1. In the row header, drag with the mouse pointer to highlight three rows to add a new row.
2. Right-click on selected rows.
3. Select Insert from the menu.
4. Three new rows are added above the selected rows.

The menu (or right-clicking menu) used to delete rows from the worksheet is Delete.

The easiest way to delete rows with the context menu is to highlight the entire row by selecting the row headers.

To delete a single row in a spreadsheet

1. Select the row header of the row to be deleted.
2. Right-click on the selected row to open the context menu.
3. Select Delete from the menu.
4. The selected row will be deleted.

To delete multiple adjacent rows

Again, numerous adjacent rows can be deleted at once if all of them are selected.

To delete three rows from a worksheet

In the row header, drag with the mouse pointer to highlight three adjacent rows.

1. Right-click on selected rows.
2. Select Delete from the menu.
3. The three selected rows will be deleted.

To delete individual rows

Separate or nonadjacent rows can be deleted at the same time by selecting them with the Ctrl key and the mouse.

To select separate rows

1. Select row headers of the first row to be deleted.
2. Press and hold the Ctrl key.
3. Select additional rows in the row header to highlight them.
4. Right-click on selected rows.
5. Select Delete from the menu.
6. The selected rows will be deleted.

The keyboard keys combination to add columns to the worksheet is like adding rows:

 Ctrl + Shift + " + " (plus sign)

Note: If you have a keyboard with a Keypad to the right of a regular keyboard, use the + there without the Shift key. The critical combination becomes Ctrl + +.

Before adding a column, tell Excel where you want to insert the new column by selecting its neighbors. This can also be done using the keyboard shortcut:

 Ctrl + Spacebar

Excel inserts a new column to the left of the selected column.

To add a column using keyboard shortcuts

1. Select a cell in the column where you want to add a new column.
2. Press and hold the Ctrl key.
3. Press the spacebar without releasing the Ctrl key.
4. The entire column is highlighted.
5. Press and hold the Ctrl and Shift keys.
6. Press and release “+” without releasing the Ctrl and Shift keys.
7. A new column is added to the left of the selected column.

To add multiple adjacent columns using the keyboard shortcut

Tell Excel how many new adjacent columns you want to add to your spreadsheet by selecting the same number of existing columns.

Suppose you want to insert two new columns and select two existing columns to place the new column. If you wish to three new columns, select three existing columns.

To add three new columns to a worksheet

1. Select a cell in the column where you want to add new columns.
2. Press and hold the Ctrl key.
3. Press the spacebar without releasing the Ctrl key.
4. The entire column is highlighted.
5. Release Ctrl key.
6. Press and hold the Shift key.
7. Press the right arrow key twice to select two additional columns.
8. Press and hold the Ctrl and Shift keys on the keyboard.
9. Press “+” without releasing the Ctrl and Shift keys.
10. Three new columns are added to the left of the selected columns.

The option in the context menu used to add columns to the worksheet is Insert.

Before adding a column, tell Excel where you want to insert the new column by selecting its neighbors.

The easiest way to add columns with the context menu is to highlight the entire column by selecting the column header.

To add a column to the spreadsheet

1. Select the column header of a column where you want to add a new column. The entire column is highlighted.
2. Right-click on the selected column to open the context menu.
3. Select Insert from the menu.
4. A new column is added to the left of the selected column.

To add multiple adjacent columns

Again, for rows, tell Excel how many new columns you want to add to the spreadsheet by selecting the same number of existing columns.

To add three new columns to a worksheet

1. In the column header, drag with your mouse cursor to highlight three columns where you want new columns to be added.
2. Right-click on selected columns.
3. Select Insert from the menu.
4. Three new columns are added to the left of the selected columns.