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How to skip header rows in QUERY in Excel and Google Sheets
Topic:QUERY (Google Sheets SQL)Heads up: Excel and Google Sheets do this differently.
Excel
=FILTER(B2:C10,B2:B10<>"")Google Sheets
=QUERY(A1:C10,"SELECT A, B, C WHERE A IS NOT NULL",1)Try it with your data
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Step by step
- 1The QUERY signature is =QUERY(data, query_string, headers). The headers argument tells QUERY how many rows at the top of your data range are header rows.
- 2Set headers=1 when your range starts at row 1 and row 1 contains column headers — this is the most common case.
- 3Set headers=0 when your range starts at a data row (e.g., A2:C10) and has no header row at the top of the range.
- 4Set headers=-1 to let QUERY auto-detect — it reads the first row and guesses based on data types. This is less predictable; prefer an explicit 0 or 1.
- 5If headers appear as a data row in your output, you have set headers=0 on a range that includes a header row. Change it to 1. If the header row is missing entirely, do the reverse.
Tips
- When you use IMPORTRANGE as the data source, always set headers=1 explicitly — auto-detection is unreliable for cross-file data.
- If your data range starts at row 2 (e.g., A2:C), set headers=0 so QUERY does not try to treat A2 as a header. QUERY will generate its own column labels from the aggregate expressions.
- Adding a LABEL clause gives clean custom headers regardless of the headers argument setting: LABEL A 'Date', B 'Region', C 'Amount' renames all three output columns.
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Frequently asked
What does QUERY output when I set headers=0 and use SELECT *?
QUERY generates automatic column labels based on the column letters or aggregate expressions — e.g., 'A', 'B', 'C' or 'sum Col3'. Use a LABEL clause to override these with readable names.
My QUERY shows the header row as a data row — what went wrong?
Your range includes a header row (like A1:C10) but you passed 0 as the headers argument. Change it to 1 so QUERY knows to treat row 1 as labels, not data.
Can QUERY handle multiple header rows?
Yes. Set headers=2 (or the appropriate count) if your data has a multi-row header block. QUERY will skip that many rows from the top of the range when building its data set.
More on QUERY (Google Sheets SQL)
See all →How-to
How to use QUERY to filter data
Use Google Sheets QUERY with a WHERE clause to filter rows dynamically — Excel users can use FILTER as the equivalent.
Error fixFix QUERY error
QUERY parse error in Google Sheets means the SQL-like query string has a syntax mistake. Find the exact error and fix it here.
How-toHow to use QUERY to sum by group
Use Google Sheets QUERY with GROUP BY and SUM to aggregate data by category — use SUMIF for the Excel equivalent.
How-toHow to use QUERY to group by multiple columns
Use QUERY GROUP BY with multiple columns in Google Sheets to create multi-level summaries. Excel alternative uses SUMIFS with multiple criteria ranges.
How-toHow to use QUERY with WHERE, AND, OR
Filter QUERY results in Google Sheets using WHERE with AND and OR conditions. Excel users can replicate this with FILTER using * for AND and + for OR.
How-toHow to create a running total with QUERY
Build a running total in Google Sheets by combining QUERY for ordering with ARRAYFORMULA and SUMIF. Excel alternative uses a simple SUMIF with a locked anchor row.