Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Transposing Table Contents.

Transposing Table Contents

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 4, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

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:

Create your table in Word.
Select the entire table and copy it to the Clipboard.
In Excel, use Paste Special to paste the table as Text.
Using Excel, transpose the rows and columns. (How you do this can be found on the Excel.Tips.Net site.)
Copy the transposed table to the Clipboard.
Paste the table back into Word.
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 (9076) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) 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. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Numbers to Text, Take Three (Over a Million)

So, you need to convert a number to text that is over one million? Here is a VBA macro that will convert up to 999,999,999.

Discover More

Seeing Excel's Program Window

Have you ever opened Excel to find that the window you saw yesterday is not the same as it is today? Sometimes, for ...

Discover More

Incrementing Months in Dates

Excel can easily store dates. If you want to increment a date by one month, there are a number of ways you can accomplish ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! An easy-to-understand guide to the more advanced features available in the Microsoft 365 version of Word. Enhance the quality of your documents and boost productivity in any field with this in-depth resource. Complete your Word-related tasks more efficiently as you unlock lesser-known tools and learn to quickly access the features you need. Check out Microsoft 365 Word For Professionals For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

Table Won't Flow to Second Page

Have you ever created a table that never seems to flow to a second page, even when it should? This could be caused by any ...

Discover More

Distributing Table Rows Evenly

If you've adjusted the height of your table and the rows within the table, you might want to later return all those rows ...

Discover More

Setting Consistent Column Widths in Multiple Tables

Tables are great for organizing and presenting information in a document. If you have a document containing multiple ...

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 one less than 7?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.