On the right side, I've unpivoted the data and converted it to a row format. On the left side is a set of client records, with different project types in columns. In the example below, you can see what data looks like when you convert it from columns to rows in Excel.

Columnar data is mixed up with multiple attributes spread across columns. Basically, it's preferable if each row of data is like a record, a single data point. Why Convert Columns to Rows?īefore we get started, you might be wondering why it's so helpful to take data that's structured in many columns and convert it into rows. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to use Power Query to convert columns into rows in Excel. Take your Excel skills to the next level by 'unpivoting' your data using Microsoft Power Query. One of the most popular data cleanup steps is to take data that's spread across columns and convert it into rows of data. Power Query, also called 'Get and Transform Data' lives inside of Excel and automates the data cleanup process. That's where Power Query comes into play. Microsoft Excel is a very user-friendly tool, but you still need to clean up your data before it's usable for analysis and review. You need a way to re-arrange and clean up your data to make it usable. The problem is not that we lack data, it's that we have so much data that it's hard to find meaning inside of it.

Change from column to row in excel