Move a row up

Hi Chris,

With a trackpad, I find I must do a "hard" click by pressing and holding the bottom left of the trackpad while the cursor is over the selected row or column reference tabs. The selected row(s) or column(s) "lift" and can be dragged to a new position within the table. Non-selected rows/columns politely move away to make room.

For your next trick, drag the selection completely away to create a separate table. This also works with a rectangle of selected cells within a table.

It is years since I used a mouse, but perhaps a right click works this way?

Regards,

Ian.

Hi Christoph,

You may be attempting to combine selecting the row(s) and moving the rows into a single step.

They need to be separate:

1: SELECT: The three rows with "Holding" in column A are to be moved)

• Click any cell to activate the table and show the row and column reference tabs.
• Click on the reference tab of the row you want to move (and drag to include more rows if desired).
• Release the mouse button.

MOVE:

Now click and hold on one of the (white) selected row numbers.

• The selected rows will 'lift' from the table (as shown), and the numbers for these rows will 'disappear.'
• Drag up (or down) to move these rows to their new location.
• At the new location, release the mouse button to drop the rows back into the table.

Example done in Numbers 3.6.2 on OS X El Capitan (10.11.x).

"Mouse" clicks are hard 'left clicks' as described by Ian.

Regards,

Barry

Hi Barry,

Thank you for the well documented post. Like I explained to Ian (his post is above yours), I created a new file, added a Table and this seems to work just fine. The Rows do "lift" off the table and can be moved around. So what I tried doing was copy the info from the original file, and paste onto the newly created file and once again, the rows do not move. I must have something in there, preventing the rows from moving.

Here's a quick little example of what I am doing.

The image below is a newly created file. As you can see, I can freely move the rows.

The image below is the original file. I highlighted 1 through 10, using the numbers on the left side, making them all blue, hit Command C to Copy, then on the new file, highlighted 1 through 10, hit Command V to Paste and everything shows up properly. But when I try to move the rows again, it just doesn't let me.

Something within the info is not allowing me to move rows around and that's what I have to look for. It could simply be a Pages bug. I don't quite know yet.

Best,

Chris

Me again 🙂

In my search, of which I missed, I found out that this is in fact a bug. Not sure why Apple hasn't addressed it yet as it goes back a couple years but there are work-arounds.

how do I move a row in a table.

Thanks again!

Chris

I have tried Barry's method, using Pages 6.2 but for the life of me, I can not move any of the rows are or down. When clicking on the left side number for a few seconds, nothing appears to rise and if I move up or down, it just highlights the other cells. I'm new to Pages and nothing is locked.

Please help. Thank you.

Chris

Hi Ian,

Thank you for your help. This is the darndest thing. With the original file, I've tried right clicks "mouse" and still, the Rows do not "lift up" as it's suppose too but I thought I'd try creating a new file, add a Table and this works perfectly. It seems that my original file is either corrupted or there's a bug in it somewhere. Still trying to figure this out.

Cheers,

Chris

Hi Barry and Ian,

I believe I've figured it out and it mat be a Pages bug... unless there's a feature I'm not aware of.

In the image below, I created several rows on a single page and as you can see, I'm able to lift the row and move it around.

But, in the image below, when I add another row which happens to land on page 2, I'm not able to move the rows.

Can anything be done to resolve this issue?

Thanks!

Cheers,

Chris

Hi Peter,

"one of the row numbers" and "appear to rise off the table" both apply to tables in Pages 5 and 6, in which versions the tables are closer in appearance and functions to tables in Numbers. In Pages '09 (and earlier versions), tables did not have the row and column reference tabs that were introduced in the first version of Numbers.

Left: Pages '09 table. Right: similar table in Pages 5.6.2

For Pages 5 and 6 the 'drag and drop' method works well—select the row(s), click and hold on the number in the reference tab for one of the rows, then drag up or down to the new location.

Pages 5.6.2 table with row 6 selected & ready for move:

After clicking on (white) 6, pausing, then dragging upwards to between rows 3 and 4:

Done.

The row (and its content) are now in new location.

Instructions are similar for Numbers 1 and 2 ('08 and '09), but omit the 'appear to rise' part.

For Pages 4 ('09) and earlier, you can insert (empty) rows, and move content by Copy/Paste or Cut/Paste, following Jerry's 2012 instructions.

Regards,

Barry

Sort of. I made a blank row where I wish to move the row to, then cmd X, move pointer to row where I need the content, cmd V.

Pages help says:

Move rows: After selecting the rows, click and hold one of the selected row numbers until the rows appear to rise off the table, then drag them above or below another row.

This doesn't happen with my computer. Pages 5.6.2 MBP late 2008.

So it's quite easy, but not quite as smooth as the help suggests. Maybe this work better in newer computers?

Matt,

You could make space for the destination of the move in advance.

Select a cell just above where you wish to place the moved row and then Option-DownArrow. This will insert a blank row following the selected cell. Put the moved row there, then delete row where the moved row came from.

Jerry