Quickly swap contents of two cells or ranges in Excel
Swapping the contents of two cells or ranges in Excel is a common requirement when reorganizing data, adjusting layouts, or correcting entry errors. This guide will introduce three methods to quickly and efficiently swap contents in Excel, enabling you to modify your data without extensive cutting and pasting, which can save time and reduce the risk of errors.
Manually swap two adjoining cell contents
Easily swap contents of two cells or ranges with only several clicks
Swap two cell contents with VBA code
Manually swap two adjoining cell contents
Occasionally, you may find yourself needing to swap two adjoining cells. This can be done manually without much effort. Below are the steps to swap cells A4 and B4, as shown in the screenshots:
- Select one of the cell to swap: For instance, select cell A4.
- Hold down the Shift key and position your cursor on the right border of the selected cell.
- Carefully drag the cursor to the right border of cell B4.
- Once the cursor displays a "工" symbol, release the mouse.
The contents of the two cells should now be swapped, as depicted in the screenshot below.
Easily swap contents of two cells or ranges with only several clicks
For those who need to swap non-adjoining cells or ranges, using an Excel add-in like Kutools for Excel can simplify the process significantly.
Before applying Kutools for Excel, please download and install it firstly.
After installing Kutools for Excel, select Kutools > Range > Swap Ranges to open the Swap Ranges dialog box, and then configure as follows.
- In the Swap Range 1 section, select the first cell or range you want to swap.
- In the Swap Range 2 section, select the second cell or range you want to swap with. Tips: For ease, you can pre-select the two ranges before opening the Swap Ranges dialog. The pre-selected ranges will automatically appear in the "Swap Range 1" and "Swap Range 2" boxes respectively.
- Click the OK button.
Result
Then two selected cells or ranges are swapped immediately. See screenshots:
If you want to have a free trial (30-day) of this utility, please click to download it, and then go to apply the operation according above steps.
Swap two nonadjacent cell contents with VBA code
When the two cells are nonadjacent, the above method will not work. We can swap them with VBA code.
1. Press the Ctrl key and select the two nonadjacent cells you want to swap.
2. Click Developer>Visual Basic, a new Microsoft Visual Basic for applications window will be displayed, click Insert>Module, and input the following code into the Module:
Sub SwapTwoRange()
'Updateby20131120
Dim Rng1 As Range, Rng2 As Range
Dim arr1 As Variant, arr2 As Variant
xTitleId = "KutoolsforExcel"
Set Rng1 = Application.Selection
Set Rng1 = Application.InputBox("Range1:", xTitleId, Rng1.Address, Type:=8)
Set Rng2 = Application.InputBox("Range2:", xTitleId, Type:=8)
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
arr1 = Rng1.Value
arr2 = Rng2.Value
Rng1.Value = arr2
Rng2.Value = arr1
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub3. Then click 
button to run the code, then a dialog is displayed for you to select the two cells you want to swap between. See screenshots:
4. Click Ok in the popped-up dialog, the two selected cells are swapped. See screenshots:
Notes: This VBA code can’t swap the formatting of the two cells.
Demo: Swap two random cell contents with Kutools for Excel
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