Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Office 365. 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 Two Paragraphs.

Transposing Two Paragraphs

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated March 10, 2020)

4

As you are developing a document, there may be times when you want to transpose two adjacent paragraphs. All you need to do is position the insertion point between two paragraphs you want to transpose, and then issue the macro in this tip. If you position the cursor inside a paragraph, it assumes you want to transpose the current paragraph with the following. This macro, TransposeParagraphs, will do the trick:

Sub TransposeParagraphs()
    Selection.MoveUp Unit:=wdParagraph, _
      Count:=1, Extend:=wdExtend
    Selection.MoveLeft Unit:=wdCharacter, Count:=1
    Selection.MoveDown Unit:=wdParagraph, _
      Count:=1, Extend:=wdExtend
    Selection.Range.Cut
    Selection.MoveDown Unit:=wdParagraph, Count:=1
    Selection.Range.Paste
End Sub

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the WordTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (9142) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Office 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Transposing Two Paragraphs.

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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Comments

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What is 6 - 4?

2014-12-22 12:30:23

Phil Reinemann

What is the key combo on a Mac with Word 2011?

On a Mac keyboard 'alt' is 'option' key (alt is upper left of the word 'option') and 'alt' maybe is obtained by clicking option with the shift key, so how does one SHIFT + 'SHIFT+alt'?

I tried SHIFT+option (the alt key) and an arrow, and all it did was highlight the rest of the paragraph to the end (down-arrow) or to the beginning (up-arrow).

2014-02-22 12:09:10

rcstan98

I use Alt + Shift + up/down arrows to move entire Paragraphs. This same key combination works in Tables, and moves entire Rows up/down.

This works in all versions of Word, beginning with 2000.

A great characteristic of this key combo is that you need not Select anything; just park your Cursor any place within the Paragraph or Row to be moved, and voila!

2014-02-22 11:32:32

Surendera M Bhanot

Thanks Allen for taking this matter up and Bigger thanks to E Nora for making the things more easier.

One can not only go up and down one para but a number of paras with each stroke of up/down arrow.

So wonderful

2014-02-22 11:10:18

E Nora

An even easier shortcut: With cursor in the first paragraph, press [SHIFT]+[ALT]+down arrow. This moves the current paragraph down below its following paragraph. [SHIFT]+[ALT]+ up arrow does the reverse.

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