# MS-Excel: Any way to tell it 'Just do it!'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 9, 2023, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-excel-any-way-to-tell-it-just-do-it/983825 "2023-05-09T20:08:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2023, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-excel-any-way-to-tell-it-just-do-it/983825/21 "2023-05-12T17:25:00Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > Ayup. You’d have to insert a row first, which … probably isn’t what you’re after. Yep. That’s exactly what I’m trying to avoid. > [@RitterSport](#): > > I’ve seen this happen when copying from an XLSX to an XLS and vice versa, because row lengths are different. Both files are comma-delimited. > [@RitterSport](#): > > What happens if you select the row in the source sheet, but only cell A1 in the destination sheet? (Or, what that covered above?) If I insert a new row and Paste (into A1, or highlight the entire row), that works. That’s what I do when I can’t simply insert a row. It would be much more convenient of I could just insert a row. > [@DavidNRockies](#): > > Any chance that you have more than one worksheet “grouped?” > > IOW, if you have multiple tabs for multiple sheets within your destination workbook No, you can’t have multiple tabs in a .csv file. > [@DavidNRockies](#): > > Again, though, shouldn’t cause an _intermittent_ issue like you describe. The error is consistent in the files. That is, Company\_A\_File will always get the failure, and Company\_Blort\_File will always be successful. > [@DavidNRockies](#): > > ETA: if you’re using filters via that header row, that could possibly bang you up, too. No filters in the .csv file. (I don’t like filters, because I don’t know what they do. So I always turn them off in an .xls or .xlsx file.) ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2023, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-excel-any-way-to-tell-it-just-do-it/983825/22 "2023-05-12T17:43:06Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Unfortunately, MS won’t let me take a picture of it. I get the menu, and when I click on Snipping Tool it goes away. The Delay feature in Snipping Tool might work for this. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2023, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-excel-any-way-to-tell-it-just-do-it/983825/23 "2023-05-12T17:47:32Z")
Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2023, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-excel-any-way-to-tell-it-just-do-it/983825/24 "2023-05-12T17:53:23Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > If I insert a new row and Paste (into A1, or highlight the entire row), that works. That’s what I do when I can’t simply insert a row. It would be much more convenient of I could just insert a row. I just created a new spreadsheet and put some garbage in the first row. I created another spreadsheet with several rows of garbage in range A1:E6. I go to the first spreadsheet, select the first row, copy. Then the second spreadsheet, select cell A1, Insert Copied Cells, and it inserted the entire row and my data in the second sheet is now in A2:E7. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2023, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-excel-any-way-to-tell-it-just-do-it/983825/25 "2023-05-12T18:00:00Z")
THAT WORKED! I’ve always assumed that doing that would ask where I wanted the data shifted, as when I insert cells. Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2023, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-excel-any-way-to-tell-it-just-do-it/983825/26 "2023-05-12T18:42:43Z")
Yeah, I was surprised when I discovered that, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-excel-any-way-to-tell-it-just-do-it/983825.md?page=1)