Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. 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: Moving a Table Row.

Moving a Table Row

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated July 30, 2016)

Moving a row in a table is almost as easy as moving regular text. It is done by using the Clipboard. To move a row, follow these steps:

Select the row you want to move.
Press Ctrl+X or click on the Cut tool on the Home tab of the ribbon. This removes the row from the table and copies it to the Clipboard.
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the row before which you want to place the row you just cut.
Press Ctrl+V or click on the Paste tool on the Home tab of the ribbon.

Another easy tip is to put the cursor anywhere in the row that you want to move. Holding Shift+Alt, use the arrow keys to move the whole row up and down. This works very well if the table is small or if you only need to move the row up or down a few places.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (11221) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Moving a Table Row.

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. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Returning Word to Default Settings

Want to set everything back to a pristine state in Word? Doing so is more involved than you may believe.

Discover More

Arranging Document Windows

When you have multiple documents open at the same time, you need a way to control how those document windows appear on ...

Discover More

File Formats that Include Field Formats

If you import data into Excel that is created by other programs, you know that it can be bothersome to get your data ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2013. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2013 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Working with Table Columns and Rows

Need to add or delete columns and rows from a table? It's easy to do using the tools provided in Word.

Discover More

Freezing a Table

Tired of Word changing the dimensions of table cells to accommodate what you place in those cells? You can instruct Word ...

Discover More

Repeating Table Rows with Manual Page Breaks

Need to make sure part of a table is on one page and part on another? The way to do so is not to use manual page breaks, ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is 1 + 3?

2016-08-01 09:39:36

Jane

Benjamin's tip is great. Been using it for many years. I would recommend that you only place your cursor in any part of the table row (do not select the row). Use the three finger keyboard shortcut, ALT+SHIFT+Arrow Up/ Arrow Down. Continue holding the Alt_Shift keys while tapping on the Arrow Up/Arrow Down key to move the entire row to its new location.
This shortcut is also very useful for moving a paragraph to a new location (eg. within the same page or one page away): place your cursor in the paragraph (do not select the paragraph). Use the three finger keyboard shortcut, ALT+SHIFT+Arrow Up/ Arrow Down. Continue holding the Alt_Shift keys while tapping on the Arrow Up/Arrow Down key to move the entire row to its new location.

2016-07-30 16:48:23

Abdul Quadir

Thanks for the shortcut (Shift + Alt + Up/Down arrow key). It works!

2016-07-30 10:49:45

Benjamin C. Morin

In Word 2010 and 2013, I do the following for moving rows in a Word Table.

1 Select the row you want to move. Make sure you select the row and not just the text in the row.

2. Point, click and drag on the first cell of the selected row to the desired position. Release the mouse button.

While you click and drag to the desired positon, you will see the mouse point change to a vertical perforated line. That's where you are dropping the row you are moving. Be careful.

I hope this helps.

Benjamin

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.