Reverse order of rows in Excel

Is there any simple way to reverse the order of some rows in Excel? I'd rather hoped that there might be a suitable option in Paste Special, as there is for Transpose, but apparently not.

microsoft-excel

stevemegson

Posted 2009-08-24T14:42:26.767

Reputation: 493

Answers

Insert a column A, then put a counter in that row (1, 2, 3, 4). Then sort the spreadsheet on column A in descending order.

To expand on DLux' answer:

Instead of manually adding the 1, 2, 3, 4, you can:

Enter 1 on the first row, then a 2 on the cell directly below it
Select both cells
Move your mouse cursor to the bottom right corner of the cell that contains the "2". The cursor should change into a + sign.
Click and drag downwards. Excel will fill in the cells you drag over, and increment the values automatically.

This'll save you some time if you've got a large number of rows to reverse.

CaptainKeytar

Posted 2009-08-24T14:42:26.767

Reputation: 794

sort the spreadsheet on column A in descending order = in google spreadsheet. add the number then select both column, click on the right of the top of the column on the triangle that appear, sort sheet z→A – JinSnow – 2016-07-01T16:19:28.313

I'm a bit surprissed that "enterprise" software like MS Excel requires a multi-step manual procedure for such a basic spreadsheet action which is often used – Mehdi Nellen – 2019-12-18T13:45:59.180

2I assume that's what DLux meant. Most people know that you can drag the box to continue sequences/patterns. – DisgruntledGoat – 2009-08-24T15:00:35.780

3There speaks a man who doesn't do user support. – Col – 2009-08-24T15:02:46.163

I like this explanation, no matter i already know how to do it, maybe stevemegson does not. – Jhonny D. Cano -Leftware- – 2009-08-24T15:11:30.157

(By the way, this answer was supposed to be a comment on DLux' answer. But, since I'm new here, I couldn't comment yet. Argh.) – CaptainKeytar – 2009-08-24T15:37:37.077

I've accepted this one because it's more complete for someone finding this question later (though I did know the extra bit). CaptainKeytar, if you feel all guilty about stealing DLux's rep, you can always add the comment when you have enough rep and I'll accept DLux's answer instead :) – stevemegson – 2009-08-24T15:42:55.147

Insert a column A, then put a counter in that row (1, 2, 3, 4). Then sort the spreadsheet on column A in descending order.

dlux

Posted 2009-08-24T14:42:26.767

Reputation: 4 183

1To expand on DLux' answer:

Instead of manually adding the 1, 2, 3, 4, you can:

Enter 1 on the first row, then a 2 on the cell directly below it
Select both cells
Move your mouse cursor to the bottom right corner of the cell that contains the "2". The cursor should change into a + sign.
Click and drag downwards. Excel will fill in the cells you drag over, and increment the values automatically.

This'll save you some time if you've got a large number of rows to reverse. – CaptainKeytar – 2009-08-27T20:31:51.893

A simple way to reverse the order of a row or a column:

If you have row elements of 1,2,3,4 then you want them to be in a row, but in the order 4,3,2,1 – like transposing, but 180 degrees instead of 90. To reverse a row use this:

=INDEX($I$4:$L$4,1,COUNT(I$4:$L$4))

The range to be reversed is I4:L4. Note that the first column in the count is not anchored so this value gets walked down from 4 to 3 to 2 to 1 as you copy the cell to the right.

To reverse the order of elements in a column you have:

=INDEX($I$4:$I$8,COUNT($I4:$I$8),1)

Now you see that the first row element is not anchored so the row count will decrease as the cell is copied down.

trgraney

Posted 2009-08-24T14:42:26.767

Reputation: 31