How Many Rows and Columns in Excel

Excel worksheet consists of rows and columns.

Rows run horizontally and are identified by numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, …).

Columns run horizontally and are identified by letters (A, B, C, D, …).

The intersection of a column and row is called a cell. The cell is identified by the row number and column header, for example, B3.

Number of columns and rows in one sheet

Depending on the Excel version you use, there is a different number of rows and columns.

Excel 2003

In Excel 2003 there are 65,536 rows and 256 columns (IV).

Excel 2007 and newer

Since Excel 2007 the number of rows and columns is much bigger than before. This time there are 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns (XFD).

Therefore the last cell is XFD1048576.

Determining the column number

To know the number of rows is easy, but it’s much more complicated with the column header. How you can quickly determine what is the header for the column 2000?

You can use the following formula.

Just enter it to a cell and type the number into cell A2.

The column header for the 2000th column is BXX.

If you want to know more about other ways to get column header, read an article about this subject.

Navigating Rows and Columns

Moving one cell at a time

To move one cell left, right, up or down you can use keyboard arrows.

You can also use:

Enter – move down

Tab – move right

Shift + Enter – move up

Shift + Tab – move left

Moving to the first/last column/row

To move to the last column, use Ctrl + right arrow.

To move to the last cell, use Ctrl + down arrow.

It only works if you don’t have any cell in your way, otherwise, it will stop on the last cell in this area. In this case, you have to use the keyboard shortcut one more time.

In the following example, I selected cell A2. Now I press Ctrl + right arrow and the cursor stops at C2. I press one more time and it stops at E2.

Use the keyboard shortcut one more time. This time it will go to the last column.

Tomasz Decker is an Excel specialist, skilled in data analysis and financial modeling.