Written and reviewed by FormulaCraft Team. Each formula on this page is run through our verification engine before publishing.
Last reviewed:
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
Edit the grid or formula, then run it through a real spreadsheet engine — no signup.
Sample data — click any cell to edit
Runs server-side · free · no signup
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.
Need it for your exact data?
Describe your columns in plain English and get the precise formula for your sheet, with the right Excel or Sheets syntax.
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.