Tag: rearrange columns

Rearrange columns in Excel using VBA

Did you ever need to rearrange or reorganize columns across multiple sheets in a certain order based on column headers? In this article, I’ll try to explain how to rearrange columns in Excel based on column header information by using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA).

As mentioned in the intro, this article is about rearranging columns in Excel using column header information.

To make it more visible see the images below…

In this example the headers are in alpabetical order:
Address, City, Country, Date of Birth, First Name, Last Name, Middle Name, Phone Number, Postal (ZIP) Code, State.

And let’s say you want to change the column order to:
First Name,Last Name, Middle Name, Date of Birth, Phone Number,Address, City, State, Postal (ZIP) Code, Country (see the image below)

For those of you that are not familiar with VBA / macro’s use the steps below…

  • First make sure you’ve got the “Developer” tab in Excel
  • Next press the button “Record Macro”
  • Then press the button “Stop Recording”
  • Press ALT + F8
  • Choose “Edit”
  • Copy and paste the code below (or download a text file containing the code here…)
  • You might want to use your own headers and ordering, so change the code there 😉
  • Save your Excel !!!
  • Press ALT + F8 and Run the Macro
Sub MoveColumns()
‘ MoveColumns Macro
‘
‘ Developer: Winko Erades van den Berg
‘ E-mail : winko at winko-erades.nl
‘ Developed: 03-10-2011
‘ Modified: 03-10-2011
‘ Version: 1.0
‘
‘ Description: Rearrange columns in Excel based on column headerDim iRow As Long
Dim iCol As Long’Constant values
data_sheet1 = InputBox(“Specify the name of the Sheet that needs to be reorganised:”) ‘Create Input Box to ask the user which sheet needs to be reorganised
target_sheet = “Final Report” ‘Specify the sheet to store the results
iRow = Sheets(data_sheet1).UsedRange.Rows.Count ‘Determine how many rows are in use’Create a new sheet to store the results
Worksheets.Add.Name = “Final Report”

 

‘Start organizing columns
For iCol = 1 To Sheets(data_sheet1).UsedRange.Columns.Count

‘Sets the TargetCol to zero in order to prevent overwriting existing targetcolumns
TargetCol = 0

‘Read the header of the original sheet to determine the column order
If Sheets(data_sheet1).Cells(1, iCol).Value = “First Name” Then TargetCol = 1
If Sheets(data_sheet1).Cells(1, iCol).Value = “Middle Name” Then TargetCol = 2
If Sheets(data_sheet1).Cells(1, iCol).Value = “Last Name” Then TargetCol = 3
If Sheets(data_sheet1).Cells(1, iCol).Value = “Date of Birth” Then TargetCol = 4
If Sheets(data_sheet1).Cells(1, iCol).Value = “Phone Number” Then TargetCol = 5
If Sheets(data_sheet1).Cells(1, iCol).Value = “Address” Then TargetCol = 6
If Sheets(data_sheet1).Cells(1, iCol).Value = “City” Then TargetCol = 7
If Sheets(data_sheet1).Cells(1, iCol).Value = “State” Then TargetCol = 8
If Sheets(data_sheet1).Cells(1, iCol).Value = “Postal (ZIP) Code” Then TargetCol = 9
If Sheets(data_sheet1).Cells(1, iCol).Value = “Country” Then TargetCol = 10

‘If a TargetColumn was determined (based upon the header information) then copy the column to the right spot
If TargetCol <> 0 Then
‘Select the column and copy it
Sheets(data_sheet1).Range(Sheets(data_sheet1).Cells(1, iCol), Sheets(data_sheet1).Cells(iRow, iCol)).Copy Destination:=Sheets(target_sheet).Cells(1, TargetCol)
End If

Next iCol ‘Move to the next column until all columns are read

End Sub

Additional information 1

Someone sent me an alternative solution for reorganizing columns in Excel. The script makes use of the array function in Excel. It does a really nice job but beware, the code handles your data in a way that it does keep your original data structure.

Sub Reorganize_columns()
‘ Reorganize Columns Macro
‘
‘ Developer: If you want to know, please contact Winko Erades van den Berg
‘ E-mail : winko at winko-erades.nl
‘ Developed: 11-11-2013
‘ Modified: 11-11-2013
‘ Version: 1.0
‘
‘ Description: Reorganize columns in Excel based on column headerDim v As Variant, x As Variant, findfield As Variant
Dim oCell As Range
Dim iNum As Long
v = Array(“First Name”, “Middle Name”, “Last Name”, “Date of Birth”, “Phone Number”, “Address”, “City”, “State”, “Postal (ZIP) Code”, “Country”)
For x = LBound(v) To UBound(v)
findfield = v(x)
iNum = iNum + 1
Set oCell = ActiveSheet.Rows(1).Find(What:=findfield, LookIn:=xlValues, LookAt:=xlWhole, SearchOrder:=xlByRows, SearchDirection:=xlNext, MatchCase:=False, SearchFormat:=False)If Not oCell.Column = iNum Then
Columns(oCell.Column).Cut
Columns(iNum).Insert Shift:=xlToRight
End If
Next x
End Sub

Additional information 2

Dennis Klenner from D&R Design Ltd wanted you to know “Header names are case sensitive”! Thank you for the remark Dennis 🙂

Suggestions for improving this article are welcome, please let me know and drop me a line .