Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Transposing Table Contents.

Transposing Table Contents

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated July 12, 2014)

If you are working with tables in a document, at some point you may find it helpful to transpose the contents of the table, so that rows become columns and columns become rows.

There is no way to do this in Word. There is, however, a way to transpose rows and columns in Excel. So, the typical method of accomplishing this task is to use both Word and Excel, using these general steps:

  1. Create your table in Word.
  2. Select the entire table and copy it to the Clipboard.
  3. In Excel, use Paste Special to paste the table as Text.
  4. Using Excel, transpose the rows and columns. (How you do this can be found on the Excel.Tips.Net site.)
  5. Copy the transposed table to the Clipboard.
  6. Paste the table back into Word.
  7. Format the pasted table as desired.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (9078) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, and 2013. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Transposing Table Contents.

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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