Download Article
Download Article
This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Rain Kengly. Rain is a tech writer and editor for wikiHow with over 5 years of professional writing experience. In the past, Rain has worked with other creative writers as a Writing Tutor at San Francisco State University and has published gaming features, guides, and news articles for a variety of media outlets. Rain shares a lifelong passion for writing and gaming and is eager to grow alongside new tech inventions.
This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources.
This article has been viewed 75,493 times.
Learn more...
You can create a column title in Microsoft Excel by inserting a new row at the top. Once it's created, you'll just need to double-click the cell and type in your label. Here's how to name a column in Excel.
Quick Steps
- Click a row number to highlight the entire row.
- Right-click the first cell and click Insert.
- Double-click the new cell and enter a name.
- Press Tab to enter a name for the next cell.
Steps
-
Open a workbook in Microsoft Excel. You can use an existing project or create a new spreadsheet. Make sure you're on the correct worksheet.- Microsoft Excel is available on Windows and Mac. You can also use the online web version at https://www.office.com/.
-
Insert a new row for the names. If you want it at the very top of the page, click 1 on the left side of the spreadsheet to highlight the entire first row. Right-click the first cell, and click Insert. This will place a blank row above your data.[1]- If you want the new row in another location, select the row number of the location. Right-click the first cell, and click Insert.
- If you already have a row for the names, skip to the next step.
Advertisement -
Double-click the first cell and enter a name. This will be the title of the first column. -
Double-click the next cell and enter a name. You can also press Tab to skip to the next cell in the column. Repeat this for any remaining title cells.- If you only have one column to name, skip this step.
- The headers at the top (letters A-Z) will not change since these are Excel’s way of keeping track of information within your document. However, when you type in a name for column A1, that will become the name for the rest of the “A” column.
- If you want to see the titles as you scroll down, do the following:
- Click View at the top.
- Click Freeze Panes.
- Click Freeze Top Row.
-
Open Microsoft Excel. You can use an existing project or create a new spreadsheet.- Use this method if you want to turn the column names (letters A-Z) into numbers instead.
-
Select File and click Options. This will be at the bottom of the left panel.- On Mac, you'll need to click Excel and then Preferences.
-
Click Formulas. This is in the left panel.- On Mac, click General.
-
Check the box for "R1C1 reference style". This is underneath the Working with formulas header. -
Click OK. This is at the bottom-right corner of the window.- The header columns will change from letters to numbers.
-
Open the Power Query Editor. Power Query is an add-on you can use in Excel. This allows you to import data through other sources.[2] -
Open a query. You can do this by using a previously loaded query in the Editor, or you can click a cell in the data, select Query, then click Edit. -
Select the column you want to name. It will be highlighted. -
Double-click the column header. This will allow you to rename it.- You can also select Transform, then Rename at the top.
-
Enter the new column name. This will name the header.- Keep in mind that renaming a column header won't rename the original data source header. If the original data source header changes, it can cause query errors.
Expert Q&A
Video
Tips
You Might Also Like
References
About This Article
1. Open your Excel document.
2. Double-click on the first box under the column you want to rename.
3. Type in the name you want and press enter.
