# 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.)

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![In Excel: the original spreadsheet](https://1446155253-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-LXUX-uoaZJ8T4qyEc-x%2F-LYnFOk4qGLOJTn130XV%2F-LYnGjthDDZpWpSpfLpZ%2Fmarathon%20in%20Excel.png?alt=media\&token=15e0df33-f9ae-436c-94f3-4d993641a4a7)

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.](https://1446155253-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-LXUX-uoaZJ8T4qyEc-x%2F-LYnFOk4qGLOJTn130XV%2F-LYnGuW3mraUE_sdZELZ%2FrmovingSomecolumns.png?alt=media\&token=65a05451-2eac-4a66-a53f-0a8d359f8beb)

![In Beyond Compare: the final result, with the unwanted columns removed](https://1446155253-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-LXUX-uoaZJ8T4qyEc-x%2F-LYnFOk4qGLOJTn130XV%2F-LYnH0055T6MGqcnH7E4%2Fmarathoncolumnsremoved.png?alt=media\&token=3ae334b2-373e-4006-b1ab-950924c099a0)