Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 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: Transposing and Linking.

Transposing and Linking

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 7, 2023)

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You may already know that you can transpose information by using the Paste Special abilities of Excel. The information that is pasted is not dynamic, however. In some instances it might be nice to have the transposed information always reflect what is in the original, un-transposed information.

Here's a cool way to transpose information and have it linked to the original information:

  1. Figure out how many rows and columns are in your original information. For instance, if the original data is in the range A4:E10, then it has 7 rows and 5 columns.
  2. Select another place in the workbook (perhaps even on the same worksheet) that has the transposed number of rows and columns. For instance, if you are transposing A4:E10, you should select blank cells that consist of 5 rows and 7 columns.
  3. With the range still selected, click once in the Formula bar and type the following: =transpose(A4:E10). Make sure the address reflects the original data range you are transposing. If you are on a different worksheet, make sure you use an address that contains the worksheet name of your data, as in =transpose(Sheet1!A4:E10).
  4. Press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to signify to Excel that you are entering an array formula.

That's it. You've now got a dynamic transposed table, and any changes you make in the original are automatically reflected in the transposed version.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (12614) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Transposing and Linking.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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What is 4 + 4?

2023-10-08 10:21:57

J. Woolley

If you have Excel 2021 or newer (Excel 2021+) with support for dynamic arrays, you probably already know it is unnecessary to pre-select blank cells as described in step 2 or use Ctrl+Shift+Enter (CSE) as described in step 4.
My Excel Toolbox's SpillArray function (described in UseSpillArray.pdf) simulates a dynamic array in older versions of Excel.
See https://sites.google.com/view/MyExcelToolbox

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