Move rows, columns, or cells

Learn how to move and organize your cells, rows, and columns.

Who can use this?

Plans:

  • Smartsheet
  • Pro
  • Business
  • Enterprise

Permissions:

  • Owner
  • Admin
  • Editor

Find out if this capability is included in Smartsheet Regions or Smartsheet Gov.

After you set up a sheet, you may find that some of the information—cells, rows, or columns—needs to be moved or reorganized.

See the article Sharing permissions on sheets, reports, or workspaces to understand your permission level for moving cells, rows, and columns.


Move content within a sheet

You must have Owner, Admin, or Editor access to a sheet to make changes to rows and cells.

To move a single row

  1. Select the row number and drag it up or down the sheet.

    A dark horizontal line appears, indicating where the row will be moved when you release your click.

    Brandfolder Image Move row
  2. Release your mouse to move the row.

    You can also cut and paste the row to move it within the sheet. Select the row's number and press Ctrl + X (Windows) or Cmd + X (Mac) to copy it. Next, select the row number where you want to move the row and press Ctrl + V (Windows) or Cmd + V (Mac) to paste it in.

To move multiple consecutive rows

  1. Select the row number for the top row in the collection that you want to move.
  2. Scroll down to the bottom row.
  3. Hold down the Shift key, then select the bottom row number to highlight all the rows in between.
  4. Select and drag the row number of one of the highlighted cells to move them all to a new location.

To move multiple nonconsecutive rows

If a filter has been applied to the sheet, the rows may be non-consecutive.

  1. Hold down the Ctrl key (Windows)/Cmd key (Mac) and select the row numbers that you want to move to highlight them.
  2. Select and drag one of the row numbers to move them all to a new location.

To move cells

To move one or more cells, place your cursor on the cell border (the cursor image should change to a four-way arrow ​), and then select and drag the cell(s) to move them to the desired location.

Moved cells overwrite the cells where they are placed. Press Ctrl + Z (Windows)/Cmd + Z (Mac) to undo the move action.

To move a column

You must have Owner or Admin level-sharing permissions to make changes to columns.

  1. Select the column header and drag it to the left or right within the sheet.  A dark vertical line indicates where the column will be placed when you release your selection. Watch your cursor as you drag the column—if the icon turns into a red circle, the new column placement is not valid, and the column won't be moved.
  2. Release your mouse when the new placement is valid to successfully move the column to a new location.

Keep in mind

  • Columns can't be moved to other sheets.
  • You can move multiple columns simultaneously by holding down Shift or Ctrl on your keyboard and then clicking on the column headers you want to move. You can then select and drag any highlighted column's header to move them all to a new location.

Move a row to another sheet

If you want to move data to a different sheet, you must have the same access level in the sheet where the row is being moved to complete the action.

Before you move or copy a row to another sheet, make sure the destination sheet includes identical column names and types. If it doesn't, data from the row you copied or moved will be inserted into new columns to the right of existing columns. If this occurs, you'll need to scroll all the way to the right to find the data, copy it, and then paste it into the desired columns.

Note that you'll receive a "This action could not be completed..." error if the data you're attempting to move would cause the destination sheet to exceed maximum sheet size limits. Learn more about System requirements and guidelines for using Smartsheet.

To move a row

  1. Hover over the row number and select More  Brandfolder Image More kebab menu.  to access the Row Menu.
  2. Select Move to Another Sheet
  3. Search the destination sheet, choose it, and select OK.

You can move rows automatically with an automated move-row workflow.

Keep in mind

  • The new row is placed at the bottom of the destination sheet and can then be dragged up or down to a different location. 
  • Any attachments or comments on the row are moved automatically to the destination sheet. 
  • The history for cells in the moved row is available in View Cell History— the item shows as "Row was moved from another sheet".
  • Reminders associated with the row in the original sheet aren't included in the destination sheet
  • If the source sheet contains any columns that the destination sheet doesn't, these columns are created in the destination sheet when the row is moved. You must have Admin-level sharing permissions on the destination sheet to move rows that create columns.
  • You can move multiple rows at the same time by using the instructions above to highlight them first. You can then select the drop-down arrow to the right of any highlighted row and select Move to Another Sheet.

Troubleshooting tips

  • If you don't want to lose the information in the source sheet, copy the information instead of moving it. Learn how to Copy rows to another sheet.
  • When you move rows, formulas, and predecessors won't be preserved, but you can copy and paste them between the two sheets. Learn more about using copy and paste.
  • If your source sheet and destination sheet contain columns with the same name, and if only one of the sheets uses a System column for that column, you'll see the following error: We were unable to move/copy this row. Please ensure that the destination sheet includes the same system columns as your source sheet...

    To resolve this, you can either rename the column or change its type so that both sheets use the column name and type in the same way.