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In Excel, to have text displayed on multiple lines, two conditions must be met: When you press ALT+ENTER in Excel, Excel automatically formats the cell to have Wrap Text and inserts a new line character into the cell. This post covers how to insert a hard carriage return into data that is imported into an Excel file with ExcelWriter.
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Often when you're entering data into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, you want certain cells to span multiple lines, either for addresses, multiline pieces of information or just for readability. But if you press enter in an Excel cell, it will move you to the next cell down rather than inserting a line break.
Tip
- To create a new line in an Excel cell, hold down the alt key on your keyboard while hitting enter.
Insert Line Break in Excel
To move to a new line in an Excel cell, simply type text in the cell as normal and then press enter while holding down the alt key. If you need to move to a specific place in the cell to enter a new line, double-click the cell with your mouse and then click the specific place you want to enter the line break. Then hit enter while holding down alt.
If you need to have a formula output break onto a new line to go into an Excel cell, you can do this as well. To do so, include in the formula the bit '& CHAR(10) &' wherever you want the formula's output to break lines if you're using Windows. That tells Excel to insert the character numbered as 10 in the computer's character set, which on Windows is a line break character. If you're using a MacOS computer, use the number 13 rather than 10 for the same effect.
Wrapping Text in Excel
In some cases, you may have too much text in an Excel cell to fit on one line. In this case, you may want the text to wrap onto another line automatically. To enable this feature, select the cells that you want to automatically wrap. Then, on the 'Home' tab in the ribbon menu, click 'Alignment,' then the 'Wrap Text' button.
If the cell's height is not fixed, the text will automatically wrap from line to line and all the text should be visible. If you need to adjust the cell's height, you can physically drag the edges of the cell using your mouse or using the Cell Size menu.
To do that, select the cells you're interested in and click the 'Home' tab.' Click the 'Cells' group, then click 'Format' and under 'Cell Size,' click 'AutoFit Row Height' to make the cell automatically adjust its height.
If you'd prefer to have a fixed height that might not contain all the text, click 'Row Height' instead of 'AutoFit Row Height' and enter your desired height.
References (4)
About the Author
Steven Melendez is an independent journalist with a background in technology and business. He has written for a variety of business publications including Fast Company, the Wall Street Journal, Innovation Leader and Business BVI. He was awarded the Knight Foundation scholarship to Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
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Melendez, Steven. 'How to Insert a Return in an MS Excel Cell.' Small Business - Chron.com, http://smallbusiness.chron.com/insert-return-ms-excel-cell-54309.html. 14 August 2018.
Melendez, Steven. (2018, August 14). How to Insert a Return in an MS Excel Cell. Small Business - Chron.com. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/insert-return-ms-excel-cell-54309.html
Melendez, Steven. 'How to Insert a Return in an MS Excel Cell' last modified August 14, 2018. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/insert-return-ms-excel-cell-54309.html
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How to combine cells with line break / carriage return in Excel?
In Excel, we can combine multiple rows, columns or cells into one cell with the CONCATENATE function, and the combined contents can be separated by comma, dash, semicolon and other characters. But, have you ever tried to combine the cells with line break as following screenshot shown?
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Combine multiple cells with line break with CONCATENATE and CHAR functions
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In Excel, we can use the CONCATENATE to combine the cells then apply CHAR function to insert the line break. Please do as follows:
1. Enter this formula: =CONCATENATE(A1,CHAR(10),A2,CHAR(10),A3,CHAR(10)) into a blank cell, A6, in this case, see screenshot:
2. Then drag the fill handle right to the cells that you want to apply this formula, and all the rows have been combined into a cell in a line, see screenshot:
3. After combining the rows, then click Home > Wrap Text, and all the combined contents have been separated by line break, see screenshot:
Notes:
1. In the above formula, A1, A2, A3 are the cells value that you want to combine, and the CHAR(10) is used to enter line breaks in the cell.
2. If you need to combine multiple columns and cells into one cell, you just need to change the cell reference and join with the CHAR(10).
For Example, to combine the columns of each row into one cell with line break, please apply this formula: =CONCATENATE(A1,CHAR(10),B1,CHAR(10),C1,CHAR(10),D1,CHAR(10)), after applying the formula, please remember to make the cells Wrap Text, and you will get the following result:
Combine multiple cells with line break with Kutools for Excel
If there are multiple cells needed to be combined, the formula will be much complicated, here, I will introduce you an easy and handy tool--Kutools for Excel, with its Combine feature, you can quickly merge multiple rows, columns or cells into a cell separated by comma, semicolon, line break and other characters.
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If you have installed Kutools for Excel, please do as follows:
1. Select the data range that you want to combine, and then click Kutools > Combine, see screenshot:
2. In the Combine Columns or Rows dialog box, do the following options:
(1.) To combine multiple columns into one cell with the line break, please do:
After finishing the above settings, please click Ok or Apply button, you will get the following result:
(2.) To combine multiple rows into one cell with the line break, please do:
Then click Ok or Apply, the rows have been combined into one cell which separated by line break, see screenshot:
(3.) To combine multiple cells into one cell with the line break, please do:
And then click Ok or Apply, all the selected cells are combined into one cell with line break, see screenshot:
Demo: Combine multiple cells with line break with Kutools for Excel
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