How to transpose a values in a row to column using formulas… [Quick tip]

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This is interesting, I am in Columbus to meet one of my college friends. I remember him as a very meticulous person from college days. So it is no surprise when he showed me his massively impressive finance tracker last night. He has been tracking expenses, income, credit card payments and gas (petrol) consumption since 2008. Very impressive indeed.

Then out of blue he said, he has a problem with his spreadsheet. In this own words,

When entering data for credit cards, I use one column per card. But in my report view, I want to show credit card details in rows. How do I do this?

Something like this:

How to transpose a values in a row to column using formulas...

Transposing values in a row to column using formulas

If it is a one time process, my friend can use Paste Special > Transpose feature and be done. But this is no one time business. So lets understand which formula helps us do this.

  1. Lets assume original data is in $F$4:$J$5. Row 4 has card names & Row 5 has amounts.
  2. Wherever you want the out put, just list running numbers (1,2,3….) in a column. Lets say these are in cells D10:D14.
  3. To get the first card name, you can use the formula =INDEX($F$4:$J$4, $D10)
  4. To get the first amount due, use the formula =INDEX($F$5:$J$5, $D10)
  5. Now drag both these formulas down and you are done!

This is good, but I don’t like the extra column…

If that is the case, you can use the ROWS() formula to generate these running numbers for you on the fly. For example,

=INDEX($F$4:$J$4, ROWS($A$1:A1)) would work perfectly.

Learn more about: using ROWS / COLUMNS formula to generate running numbers.

Play with this formula

See the embedded Excel workbook below. Play with the formula.

(alternatives: download the example file or view it online)

How do you transpose values?

I love using INDEX formula. I use it for transposing values, tables, getting a cell value (or reference) from a large table, use it along with MATCH etc. It is a very versatile formula and I keep learning new uses for it.

What about you? Do you transpose values often? What formulas do you use? Please share using comments.

More on transposing your data:

If you like to transpose, wrestle or arm twist your data often, then you are at right place. Chandoo.org has tons of tutorials, material and tricks on this. Start with these:

Also, check out more quick tips.

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27 Responses to “9 Box grid for talent mapping – HR for Excel – Template & Explanation”

  1. Robert Clark says:

    Great stuff! I can understand how to add a slicer to the pivot table, but how do you implement the departmental selector on the 'Filter' formula scheme?

  2. Claus Andersen says:

    Just saw this on your Youtube channel, and it’s areat idea...!

    An easy way to overcome the "ugliness" of pivot tables and get it to look nice (in the format of the Output sheet), would be to simply build a sheet with the nice map at the top, a pivot underneath it and a slicer next to formatted map and then reference each of the 9 cells in the formatted map to the “related” cell in the Pivot.

    Keep up the good work!

    /Claus

  3. Madison Fry says:

    Hi Chandoo,

    This is great! Curious how to make additional columns operate the same as the Department column (ex. have a "manager column") that would allow you to sort a 9 box by manager, area, or team in addition to department?

    Feel free to email me if needed! mfry01@minnetronixmedical.com

    Happy New Year

    Madison Fry

    • Ed says:

      I am curious about the smae thing. I would like to populate the 9 box with other views as well by adding additional columns. IE., I would like to add location, region, etc. Thank you.

  4. Matt says:

    This is great, thank you!

  5. Al says:

    How can i see the whole data set of all the teams in the output table. Need a formula that will pick up all the employees

  6. Heather says:

    Hello,
    Love the template. Thank you. Question - the drop down to pick a department on the Output tab does not seem to work on the downloadable template. Am I doing something incorrectly?
    Thank you!

    • Chandoo says:

      Hi Heather... Thank you. I am using Excel 365 to make the calculations. If you are using an older version of Excel, then the drop-down filter won't work.

  7. Rose says:

    Hi
    I was able to follow your 9 box grid and modified based my needs. However, you tutorial did not show how to you create the filter for the "Pick a department. Can you kindly share how to create that filter that updated the grid. Thank you.

  8. Rose says:

    I am working on this project but I am struggling with the data validation for the department. I copy the worksheets data entry and output as the managers want to see different tabs for each managers.
    I updated the source reference for each tab but It does not update the grid based on the new source. The list was updated but it does not populate the grid based on the performance and potential listed.
    In addition the hyperlink Update Data and View Talent Map no longer works. Can you please help me.

  9. Emmanuel Jose Vasquez says:

    I keep getting this error message in the pivot table:

    This formula is invalid or incomplete: 'The expression is not valid or appears to be incomplete. Please review and correct the expression.
    The following syntax error occurred during parsing: Invalid token, Line 1, Offset 14, ‘.

  10. Hi, I used your 9-box excel template with excel 365. First off, thank you so very much. It is incredibly helpful!! My only question is that the boxes aren't big enough for all of the employees (specifically the middle which we call 'Core Employee'). Is there a way to make the boxes larger? Even though it is in excel, I am not able to increase row height (like I normally do in a speadsheet). Any ideas? Thanks again, Jody

  11. Prish says:

    Hi Chandoo,

    Thanks for the great content. Re. 9 box grid, pls advise how do I increase the size of the box to accommodate more names?

  12. Nabil says:

    Merci Chandoo pour le modèle proposé,
    j'ai une question et un souhait est il possible de développer davantage ce modèle en insérant la photo de chaque employé.

  13. Leah says:

    Hi Chandoo!

    Great tutorial and tool, thank you! Your tutorial didn't include how to create additional filters on the "Output" tab. Could you please share how you did it?

  14. Geno says:

    Can this be done exactly in google sheets?

  15. Joanne says:

    Hi Chandoo,
    Thanks for the video it was really helpful. Is there any way to multi select the dropdown to display multiple or all departments rather than just one at once?

  16. Dana says:

    Hello Prish

    I have Microsoft 365 and I am struggling to make the boxes larger/unable to increase row height; any idea how you made this work? Specifically in the Output tab where the map is?

    Many thanks

  17. Dana says:

    Hello Jody, I have Microsoft 365 and I am struggling to make the boxes larger/unable to increase row height; any idea how you made this work? Specifically in the Output tab where the map is? Many thanks

  18. Connie Richards says:

    Is there a way to change the 9 box wording descriptions, i.e. Work Horses, to our own internal langauge?

  19. Zee says:

    Hi Chandoo, this is awesome and has worked perfectly. Due to a big organisation the 9 box grid on the output file is too small. I tried adjusting using the row/width ribbon under the format ribbon however it doesn't seem to work. Is there an easier way to adjust this?

    Thanks!

  20. Huy Nghi?a says:

    When I drag the formula, it doesn't work, and the order I use with the data changes. In the beginning, the order is it is " candidates," " potential," and " performance," but when it goes to another column, it is " Potential," Performance," and "Candidates."Can you help me? Thank you very much, sending love from vietnam

  21. Lucia says:

    Hi- I am working on the 9 grid project and I am trying to expand the box since I have over 100 names on a few of the columns. How do I do that?

  22. Zara says:

    Hi, Thank you this is great stuff and really useful.

    As well as department as demonstrated on your clip, how can I display all candidates on the grid at once?

    Many thanks in advance

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