Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Inserting and Copying Rows.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 24, 2020)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365
As you are editing worksheets, you may notice that some of your work is done based on work you have done before. For instance, you may have a row of data that you entered in a previous Excel session. In this session, you need to copy that row of data and use it as the basis for your new data, but with a few changes.
In such a situation, it would be nice to have a quick way to enter a blank row after the current row, and copy the data in the current row to the new blank row. There are no intrinsic commands in Excel to do this, but a macro can do it very handily. Consider the following example:
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here:
Sub InsertCopyRow1()
ActiveCell.EntireRow.Select
Selection.Copy
Selection.Insert Shift:=xlDown
End Sub
In order to use the macro, all you need to do is select a cell in any row. When the macro is run, a duplicate of the current row is inserted just below the row you are in.
The only problem with this solution is that it leaves the Excel interface a bit "messy" (for lack of a better word). When completed, a complete row is still selected, and the new row has the "marching ants" marquee around it.
This problem can be overcome by including commands to collapse the selection and move it to a desired location. Another way is to simply use a different macro that relies on different VBA commands. The following macro will also insert and copy a row, but it leaves the cell that you selected active:
Sub InsertCopyRow2()
ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).EntireRow.Insert
ActiveCell.EntireRow.Copy ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).EntireRow
End Sub
Note:
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (10917) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Inserting and Copying Rows.
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2020-06-25 09:10:27
dpc
@Kiwerry, my bad. You need to select the row beneath the one you want copied down. Selecting a row and using Ctrl & "+" will always insert a row above.
2020-06-24 12:31:15
Kiwerry
@ DPC Thanks for suggesting a very short key sequence; when I tried it the Ctrl & "+" inserted a row above the one I had selected, so I ended up with the row above the one I had selected being duplicated. Is there a setting somewhere which affects how Ctrl & "+" works?
2020-06-24 09:17:48
dpc
Select the row then Ctrl+"+" (insert) then Ctrl+d (copy down)
no marching ants
2020-06-24 03:00:39
Rene
Seems a difficult way of copying a row. Easier is to select the row and then Ctrl+C (copy), Ctrl+"+" (paste). This pastes the row above the one copied. If you want to place the row below the one copied, move down a row before using Ctrl+"+".
This also works for columns. Also works for moving a row or column (Ctrl+X = cut) and avoids macros.
Press Esc to remove the "marching ants".
2019-06-09 10:50:29
Willy Vanhaelen
This macro leaves the selectrion untouched and removes the "marching ants":
Sub InsertCopyRow1()
ActiveCell.EntireRow.Copy
ActiveCell.EntireRow.Insert
Application.CutCopyMode = False
End Sub
2015-01-13 09:04:20
Glenn Case
Actually, I prefer to have the inserted row highlighted. To remove the "marching ants" around the row which was copied from, use
Application.CutCopyMode = False
If you don't want the highlighted row, then you can select a single cell as follows:
Cells(Selection.Row,1).Select
You can, of course, change the 1 to refer to whichever column you'd prefer to have selected. Both of the above lines added to the first macro in the tip should get the desired effect.
2015-01-12 05:46:32
Willy Vanhaelen
You don't need a macro do do this:
- highlight the entire row you want to copy
- press Ctrl + C and Ctrl + plus key
2015-01-12 03:31:53
Kiran
Range(ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0), ActiveCell.Offset(Ctry, 0)).EntireRow.Insert shift:=xlShiftDown
Not working after some loops
Pls advise
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