Microsoft Excel is a powerful database management tool with all sorts of in-depth problem-solving functions and dynamic formatting. To make the most of it, though, you need to know the basics.Using Microsoft Excelto add a column is quick and easy. You can do it in just a few quick steps once you’ve learned how.
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What You Need
Desktop PC, laptop, tablet, or smartphone
Microsoft Excel
Adding a new column to an entire spreadsheet
Sometimes you want to add a new column that extends from the top to the bottom of your spreadsheet. This can be done in a couple of easy steps.
Step 1:Select the column to the right of where you want to add the new column. Just click the top of the column and Excel will highlight it.
Step 2:Right-click on the column and selectInsert, Your new column will be inserted, and you can work with it as needed.
Note that this will impact the entire spreadsheet, so if you have just a portion where you want to add a column, skip to the next section.
Step 3:In this case, we added an “Expenses” column, and it now shows betweenLast nameandSales.
Adding a partial column
Sometimes, you want to add a new column to just part of a spreadsheet. That’s easy to do as well.
Step 1:Select the cells to the right of where you want to add the new column.
Step 2:Right-click on the selection and selectInsert.
Step 3:You will be presented with the option toShift cells right,Shift cells down, insert anEntire row, or insert anEntire column. In this case, we want to shift the cells to the right so that we can add a new column to this portion of the spreadsheet.
Step 4:You will now have a new column to work with in this portion of the spreadsheet without impacting your other information.
For more Excel tips, check out our guides onhow to merge and umerge cells in Excelandhow to create a drop-down list.
