How to drag columns in Excel – As already mentioned, dragging columns in Excel is a bit more complex procedure than one could expect. In fact, it’s one of those cases that can be classified as “easier said than done”. But maybe it’s just my lack of sleight of hand ability 🙂 Nevertheless, with some practice, I was able to get it to work, so you will definitely manage it too. 
- Select the column you want to move.
- Hover the mouse pointer over the edge of the selection until it changes from a regular cross to a four-sided arrow. You’d better not do this anywhere around the column heading because the cursor can have too many different shapes in that area. But it works just fine on the right or left edge of the selected column, as shown in the screenshot.
- Press and hold the Shift key, and then drag the column to a new location. You will see a faint “I” bar along the entire length of the column and a box indicating where the new column will be moved.
- That’s it! Release the mouse button, then leave the Shift key and find the column moved to a new position.
You can use the same technique to drag several columns in your Excel table. To select several columns, click the heading of the first column you need to move, press and hold Shift, and then click the heading of the last column. Then follow steps 2 – 4 above to move the columns, as shown in the screenshot. 
Note. It is not possible to drag non-adjacent columns and rows in Excel. The drag and drop method works in Microsoft Excel 2016, 2013, 2010 and 2007 and can be used for moving rows as well. It might require some practice, but once mastered it could be a real time saver. Though, I guess the Microsoft Excel team will hardly ever win an award for the most user friendly interface on this feature 🙂
Contents
How do I move columns in Excel and keep formatting?
Click the ‘protection tab’ and UNCHECK the ‘locked’ box. Click on the ‘Review’ Heading at the top menu. Click ‘protect sheet’. Check EVERY box, except for ‘format cells, format columns, format rows’.
How do I move cells without changing formatting?
How to copy a formula down without copying formatting – Copying a formula down by dragging the fill handle not only copies the formula, but also the source cell formatting such as font or background color, currency symbols, the number of displayed decimal places, etc. 
For prevent overwriting the existing cell formatting, drag the fill handle as demonstrated above, release it, click the Auto Fill Options drop-down menu, and select Fill Without Formatting, 
How do I reorder columns in a data table?
To reorder data. table columns, the idiomatic way is to use setcolorder(x, neworder), instead of doing x
Why can’t I move cells in Excel?
– To view all your data, you can scroll smoothly through a worksheet without snapping to the top-left cell in your display. Even if you stop scrolling partly through a row or column, Excel doesn’t advance any further, which is of particular benefit for large cells.
- These improvements work with a mouse, mouse wheel, touchpad, touch screen, or scroll bar drag.
- By default, scrolling is based on the height of one Excel row.
- If you have a precision mouse or touchpad, you can scroll one pixel at a time.
- However, if your Windows mouse option is set to move one line of text for each click of the mouse wheel, it supersedes the Excel behavior.
Tip: If you do need to snap to the top-left cell, use the arrow buttons on the scroll bar, or use the arrow keys on the keyboard to change your cell selection until you get the sheet positioned the way you want.
How do I move columns to rows in Excel?
Updated June 1, 2023 In Excel, select the column you want to switch and copy the selected cells or columns to convert any Columns to Rows. Go to the cell where you want to paste the data. Then, select the Transpose option from the Paste option under the Home menu tab. This will convert the selected Columns into Rows. The shortcut key for paste special: Once you have copied the range of cells that need transposed, click on Alt + E + S in a cell where you want to paste a special dialog box popup window with the transpose option.
Is there a way to move an entire column in Excel?
How to drag columns in Excel – As already mentioned, dragging columns in Excel is a bit more complex procedure than one could expect. In fact, it’s one of those cases that can be classified as “easier said than done”. But maybe it’s just my lack of sleight of hand ability 🙂 Nevertheless, with some practice, I was able to get it to work, so you will definitely manage it too.
- Select the column you want to move.
- Hover the mouse pointer over the edge of the selection until it changes from a regular cross to a four-sided arrow. You’d better not do this anywhere around the column heading because the cursor can have too many different shapes in that area. But it works just fine on the right or left edge of the selected column, as shown in the screenshot.
- Press and hold the Shift key, and then drag the column to a new location. You will see a faint “I” bar along the entire length of the column and a box indicating where the new column will be moved.
- That’s it! Release the mouse button, then leave the Shift key and find the column moved to a new position.
You can use the same technique to drag several columns in your Excel table. To select several columns, click the heading of the first column you need to move, press and hold Shift, and then click the heading of the last column. Then follow steps 2 – 4 above to move the columns, as shown in the screenshot. Note. It is not possible to drag non-adjacent columns and rows in Excel. The drag and drop method works in Microsoft Excel 2016, 2013, 2010 and 2007 and can be used for moving rows as well. It might require some practice, but once mastered it could be a real time saver. Though, I guess the Microsoft Excel team will hardly ever win an award for the most user friendly interface on this feature 🙂
How do I move cells in Excel without copying?
- Products
- Devices
- Account & billing
- More support
Use Cut, Copy, and Paste to move or copy cell contents. Or copy specific contents or attributes from the cells. For example, copy the resulting value of a formula without copying the formula, or copy only the formula. When you move or copy a cell, Excel moves or copies the cell, including formulas and their resulting values, cell formats, and comments. 
Move cells by drag and dropping
- Select the cells or range of cells that you want to move or copy.
- Point to the border of the selection.
- When the pointer becomes a move pointer, drag the cell or range of cells to another location.
Move cells by using Cut and Paste
- Select a cell or a cell range.
- Select Home > Cut or press Ctrl + X.
- Select a cell where you want to move the data.
- Select Home > Paste or press Ctrl + V.
Copy cells by using Copy and Paste
- Select the cell or range of cells.
- Select Copy or press Ctrl + C.
- Select Paste or press Ctrl + V.
What is the shortcut instead of dragging in Excel?
Copy a formula by dragging the fill handle – Follow these steps:
- Select the cell that has the formula you want to fill into adjacent cells.
- Rest your cursor in the lower-right corner so that it turns into a plus sign (+), like this:
- Drag the fill handle down, up, or across the cells that you want to fill. In this example, the figure here shows dragging the fill handle down:
- When you let go, the formula gets automatically filled to the other cells:
- To change how you want to fill cells, click the Auto Fill Options button that appears after you finish dragging, and pick the option that want.
For more information about copying formulas, see Copy and paste a formula to another cell or worksheet, Tips:
- You can also press Ctrl+D to fill the formula down in a column. First select the cell that has the formula you want to fill, then select the cells underneath it, and then press Ctrl+D.
- You can also press Ctrl+R to fill the formula to the right in a row. First select the cell that has the formula you want to fill, then select the cells to the right of it, and then press Ctrl+R.