Tired of cells not wrapping the way you want in Excel? Read on to learn a few tricks to fix this problem.
Problem: If you regularly paste information from web pages, you might be frustrated at the way Excel wraps text in the cells. In Fig. 1321, column A is not wide enough for the date and column B is wrapped so that you can only see a few rows on the screen. Using AutoFit to make the columns wider will make the spreadsheet too wide to work with easily. Is there another solution?
Strategy: Follow these steps to correct this.
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First, hit Ctrl+1 to open the Format Cells dialog. On the Alignment tab, look in the Text Control section. The Wrap Text choice is probably a grey checkmark, as shown in Fig. 1322. This means that for some cells in the selection, the Wrap Text property is on, and for others it is off.
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You want to turn the Wrap text property off. The first mouse click will change the grey checkmark to a black checkmark. The second mouse click will turn off the checkmark, as shown in Fig. 1323.
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After this step, you can see more rows, as shown in Fig. 1324. You still need to make the columns wider.
- From the menu, select Format – Column – Autofit Selection. You can now see the bank statement, as shown in Fig. 1325.
Summary: Data pasted from web pages will often have the Wrap Text property turned on. This prevents the AutoFit selection command from working.
Commands Discussed: Format – Cells – Alignment – Wrap Text; Format – Column – AutoFit
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References and Additional Resources
If you’re looking for more tips and tutorials, check out 91 Tips for Calculating With Microsoft Excel . This collection of easy-to-follow guides shows how to customize charts and graphs, different ways to make complex spreadsheets easier to update, and even how to play games like Craps in Excel.
Other Resources:
Microsoft Excel Official Site, https://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/
Bill Jelen, Microsoft Excel 2010 In Depth, Available from Amazon.com .
