# Excel Help - Manipulating some data **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 19, 2012, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-help-manipulating-some-data/628734 "2012-07-19T16:15:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mines\_Mystique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mines\_Mystique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mines_Mystique)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-help-manipulating-some-data/628734/1 "2012-07-19T16:15:06Z")
I have a report that isn’t formatted very well for actually getting any information out of the report. I’ve shown an example of how the thing is formatted below. ```auto Category1 Category4 Category2 Category5 Job # Category3 Category6 ---------------------------------------------- 123456 Excellent Poor Excellent Fair Excellent Good ``` This is repeated for 124 job numbers. What I’m looking for is an easy way to get the data into the following format: ```auto Job # Category1 Category2 Etc... ------------------------------------------------------ 123456 Excellent Excellent Etc... ``` Any excel guru’s out there know of an easy way to do this? ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excel-help-manipulating-some-data/628734/2 "2012-07-19T18:03:57Z")
It’s not elegant, but the best way is probably creating formulas in the adjacent cells. If the first row of data is in row 4, and your original data is in columns A-C, then enter the following formulas: ```auto in cell D4: =B4 E4: =B5 F4: =B6 G4: =C4 H4: =C5 I4: =C6 ``` The copy those cells down through all the rows. Copy columns D through I, Paste Special - values only, then you can delete original columns B and C.