# How to remove columns from a spreadsheet

Here are some results from the 2012 London Marathon. Lets say we are just interested in the first few columns; that means we want to remove all other columns from Beyond Compare. 

(Don't worry -- your original table will be unaltered: Beyond Compare works with a read-only copy extracted from your spreadsheet file.)

<br>

![In Excel: the original spreadsheet](/files/-LYnGjthDDZpWpSpfLpZ)

First, a wider view may make things easier to see. Menu: `View->OverUnder`  Now eliminate the unwanted columns. Menu: `Session->SessionSetting->Columns` The view is twisted: each **row** here in the screenshot below, describes a **column**(!) in the table. (It's only disorienting the first time you do this.) Select the unwanted rows. Rightclick and **remove** them.

![In Beyond Compare: Removing the unwanted columns.](/files/-LYnGuW3mraUE_sdZELZ)

![In Beyond Compare: the final result, with the unwanted columns removed](/files/-LYnH0055T6MGqcnH7E4)


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