Inserting or Adding a row in Excel is an easy task if you know the shortcut. Many times, while working in Excel, users want to add blank row(s) and they can add it very quickly using keyboard shortcuts instead of going to the “Insert” icon under the “Home” tab.
Keyboard Shortcut to Insert a New Row in the Excel
Alt → I → R
Ctrl + Shift + +
Steps to Add Row(s) Using Keyboard Shortcut
Using the Keyboard Shortcut Alt → I → R
- First, click on any cell within the row above to which you want to add the new blank row.
- After that, simply press “Alt → I → R” and you will get the new row inserted above the selected cell.
Using keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + Plus Sign (+)
- First, select the row using the keyboard shortcut “Shift + Spacebar” above which you want to add the new blank row.
- After that, press shortcut keys “Ctrl + Shift + Plus Sign (+) and you will get the new blank row inserted above your selected row.
Points to Remember
- Excel always adds the row(s) above the selected row or cell, we cannot change this default setting.
- Once you added a row, you can just press the “Fn+F4” keys for Excel to repeat the task to add more blank rows.
- In case, you have multiple data sets in the same sheet, convert the data set to a table because Excel inserts the row starting from column A to the end of columns in the sheet unless you have the data in the table, which can mess up the other data set.
More Shortcuts
- Absolute Reference (Excel Shortcut)
- Add Column (Excel Shortcut)
- Copy and Paste (Excel Shortcut)
- Cut and Paste (Excel Shortcut)
- Delete Cell (Excel Shortcut)
- Delete Row(s) (Excel Shortcut)
- Edit Cell (Excel Shortcut)
- Insert Cell (Excel Shortcut)
- Lock Cells (Excel Shortcut)
- Merge-Unmerge Cells (Excel Shortcut)
- Paste Values (Excel Shortcut)
- Select Row (Excel Shortcut)
- Transpose (Excel Shortcut)
- Unhide Columns (Excel Shortcut)
- Open Go To Option (Excel Shortcut)
⇠ Back to Excel Shortcut Keys (Cheat Sheet PDF)