At times, when trying to insert rows or columns in a worksheet, it may fail, and Excel will display an error message stating, “Can’t push objects off the sheet,” as shown below:

Can’t Insert a Row in Excel – How to Fix!

Method

2: Resize the Objects

We can make the objects smaller by resizing them to make room for the columns or rows we want to insert using the steps below:

1. Press the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + Right Arrow” to navigate to the last column and locate the rectangle object. Similarly, press “Ctrl + Bottom Arrow” to move to the last row and find the text box.
2. Click the object to select it.
3. Position the cursor over one of the corner handles. When the cursor changes to a diagonal double-headed arrow, click and drag the handle inward to resize the object proportionally.

How to Rotate Text in Excel?

Method

3: Move the Objects Away From the Edges of the Worksheet

We can move the offending objects further away from the edges of the worksheet to make room for the rows or columns we want to insert.

We use the steps below:

1. Press the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + Right Arrow” to navigate to the last column and locate the rectangle object. Similarly, press “Ctrl + Bottom Arrow” to move to the last row and find the text box.
2. Click the object to select it.
3. Hover the mouse pointer over the selected object until the pointer changes to a four-sided arrow.

Excel Hyperlink Cannot Open the Specified File – Fix!

How to Fix the “Can’t push objects off the sheet” Error Caused by the “Nothing [hide objects]” Option

In case you’re working with older Excel versions [2007, 2010, 2013], you may encounter the “Cannot shift objects off worksheet” error message while trying to insert rows or columns into a worksheet even when you do not have objects near the edges of the Excel grid.

The error happens when you have the “Nothing [hide objects]” option selected under the “For objects, show” section in the “Excel Options” dialog box.

This issue is a known bug in the older versions of Excel.

While the “Nothing [hide objects]” option is not enabled by default, someone could accidentally activate it by pressing the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + 6.”

To work around the bug, you need to adjust the setting from “Nothing [hide objects]” to “All.” The quickest way is to press “Ctrl + 6.”

Alternatively, you can change the setting in the “Excel Options” dialog box using the following steps:

1. Click “File” on the Excel Ribbon to open the “Backstage” screen:

1. Click “Options” on the left sidebar of the “Backstage” window:

1. Click the “Advanced” category on the left sidebar of the “Excel Options” dialog box, scroll down to the “Display options for this workbook” section, select “All,” and click “OK.”

This tutorial showed seven techniques for fixing the “Can’t push objects off the sheet” error in Excel. We hope you found the tutorial helpful.