Mastering Rows and Columns in Google Sheets

In this post, I’ll walk you through essential techniques to customize rows and columns, from resizing and selecting entire rows and columns to splitting text into columns. Let’s dive into these to help you better structure your Google Sheets for ease of use and readability.

Check out my video which goes through how to use rows and columns in detail:

Here’s how to adjust and organize rows and columns to best fit your data.

Resizing Rows and Columns

You can customize row and column sizes to optimize your sheet’s layout:

1. Auto-fit Size: Double-click on the edge of a column or row to adjust it to fit the longest cell’s content.

2. Manual Resize: Drag the edge of a row or column to the size you prefer.

3. Exact Dimensions: Right-click a row or column label, select “Resize,” and enter your desired dimension.

Selecting Entire Rows or Columns

Selecting whole rows and columns is simple:

• Click the row number or column letter to select it.

• Click the top-left corner above row 1 and to the left of column A to select the entire sheet—useful for global formatting changes.

Inserting and Deleting Rows and Columns

Adding or removing rows and columns is efficient for organizing new data or cleaning up.

• Insert: Right-click a row or column, choose “Insert,” and select either “Insert 1 row above/below” or “Insert 1 column left/right.”

• Delete: To remove, right-click and choose “Delete row” or “Delete column.”

Inserting and Deleting Specific Cells

To add or delete specific cells without impacting the whole row or column:

• Insert cells: Right-click on selected cells and choose “Insert cells,” then select “Shift down” or “Shift right” based on where you need space.

• Delete cells: Right-click, select “Delete cells,” and choose to “Shift up” or “Shift left.”

Splitting Text into Columns

To split data, like separating first and last names:

1. Select your text.

2. Go to Data > Split text into columns.

3. Choose a delimiter, such as space, comma, or custom (e.g., a slash).

With these techniques, you can optimize your Google Sheets layout to suit your data’s structure and readability.

Find more posts on how to use Google Sheets here.