bottom
Great ExcelTips!
         
Your e-mail address is safe!
Close Note

Tips.Net > ExcelTips Home > Editing > Automatically Breaking Text

Automatically Breaking Text

Summary: Putting each line of a text string on its own line is easy if you know the trick. This tip explains how you can “break” text so that each word appears on its own line within a cell. (This tip works with Microsoft Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, and Excel 2003.)

Have you ever had a string in a cell that you wanted to wrap after every word? The normal way of doing this would be to press F2 and edit the string. You would delete each space and then press Alt+Enter to add a new line character.

There's an easier, less manual method of doing this, however--just use the SUBSTITUTE function. Suppose cell A1 contained "This is my text." Enter the following into another cell:

=SUBSTITUTE(A1," ",CHAR(10))

What this results in is the text of cell A1 with small boxes where the spaces were. Turn on wrapping for the cell (Format | Cells | Alignment tab | Wrap Text | OK), and each word appears on a different line, just as you wanted.

Tip #3060 applies to Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003


PivotTables Got You Perplexed? ExcelTips: PivotTables for the Faint of Heart shows how you can start using Excel's PivotTable tool right away to spin your data into gold! You discover how easy it really is to crunch the numbers you need to crunch. Uncover the power of the PivotTable Wizard, how to edit PivotTables, how to format them, how to customize them, and much more.
 
Check out ExcelTips: PivotTables for the Faint of Heart today!

Helpful Links

Ask an Excel Question
Make a Comment

Tips.Net Home
Vital News Home

ExcelTips FAQ
ExcelTips Premium

Learn Access Now

Beauty Tips
Bugs and Pests Tips
Car Tips
Cleaning Tips
College Tips
Cooking Tips
Excel2007 Tips
ExcelTips
Family Tips
Gardening Tips
Health Tips
Home Tips
Money Tips
Organizing Tips
Pet Tips
Word2007 Tips
WordTips

Advertise on the
ExcelTips Site

 

Great Info!

Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your e-mail address and click "Subscribe."
     
(Your e-mail address will never be shared with anyone, ever.)