How to move cells in different rows in FILTER view to the same column.

Question

I have a weekly salary spreadsheet with various columns containing text. One of the columns is a 'Comments' column. Not all employees have the same columns as they work different shifts. They do however all have the 'Comments' column. When I am querying times or absences, I ask for additional information in the 'Comments' column. When I filter the spreadsheet to show the rows which contain the 'Comments' column, I then want to move all the cells from each row containing the 'Comments' header to the same column so that they all line up in the same column. Eg. Row 1 Column 9 has comments, Row 2 Column 8 has comments, Row 3 Column 7 has comments. While in filtered view, how do I move ALL these cells containing 'Comments' in their respective rows but to the same column?

Answer 1

Dear @George Snr,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

Based on your description, you want to know how can move all cells that contain “Comments” from different columns into the same column while the sheet is in filtered view.

Here is suggestion you can refer to:

Clear or turn off the filter so all rows are visible.

Insert a new dedicated column (for example, Column J) and name it Comments.

For each row:

Select the cell that currently contains the comment.

Drag it into the new Comments column (or copy–paste if you prefer).

Once all comments are aligned:

Delete the old scattered comment columns (Column 7, 8, 9, etc.).

Reapply the filter and work only with the single unified Comments column.

I hope this meets your expectations. If not, please leave a comment below or share a sample data file via private message so I can better understand your situation and support you more effectively.

Note: Please understand that as forum moderator, my primary goal is to provide helpful guidance and support through general troubleshooting steps. While I don’t have access to internal systems or test devices required to resolve backend issues, I truly appreciate your understanding of these limitations. I genuinely hope the information I share helps guide you in the right direction, and I'm always here to assist as much as I can within my scope.   

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Answer 2

Excel cannot automatically “shift” cells from different columns into a single common column while a filter is applied. Moving cells in filtered data must be done row by row or by restructuring the layout first.

A practical approach is:

1. Clear or turn off the filter so all rows are visible.
2. Insert a new dedicated Comments column where all comments should end up.
3. For each row, move or copy the existing comment cell into that new Comments column:
   • Select the cell with the comment.
   • Point to the border of the selected cell until the pointer changes.
   • Drag it to the new Comments column to move it, or hold OPTION while dragging to copy it.
4. After all comments are in the same column, delete the old, inconsistent comment columns if no longer needed.
5. Reapply the filter to work with the unified Comments column.

Excel supports moving or copying cells/columns, but it does not realign data from multiple different columns into one column automatically based on a header name.

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References:

• Move or copy cells, rows, and columns
• Filter data in a workbook in the browser