Sometimes, it’s necessary to add new lines of data in Excel. With a few clicks, you can perform this activity. Let’s learn how to insert multiple rows in Microsoft Excel.
How to Insert Multiple Adjacent Rows in Excel
Consider a list of data with ten rows in it. Someone sent you the file, and you need to add four lines in the middle. You could click and drag the data itself to free up four lines. But this can break important features like cell references. It’s always best to insert new rows, rather than moving data.
Let’s say you want to start on row 5. Click on the row number, 5, to select the entire row. No matter how many rows you need to add, the process works exactly the same.
In this case, remember, you want four new rows. That means you need to select four existing rows in the workbook, including the first. Holding down Shift on your keyboard, click on row 8. As you can see, Excel now has four total rows selected: 5, 6, 7, and 8.
Now, on the Home tab, click the Insert button in the Cells section. Excel will instantly insert four new rows. As you can see, they’re also numbered 5 through 8. Your prior cells shifted four rows down.
How to Insert Non-Adjacent Rows in Excel
Working with the same data set, imagine that you need to insert new rows…but not consecutive. Suppose you need a new row 2, a new row 4, and a new row 5.
To do this, start by clicking on row 2 to select it. But instead of holding Shift, this time, hold down Control(Command on Mac) on your keyboard. Then, click on rows 4 and 5. Excel will select only these rows, leaving out any rows in between.
From here, the process is identical. Click Insert, and you’ll see new, empty rows inserted where you had the prior rows selected.
As you can see, Excel makes it easy to add new rows to your existing data.
Range in Excel
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