Excel Tips: Enter multiple lines in a cell of Excel Worksheet

You need to separate the description or data into two lines in a cell, i.e. “Dr. Manmohan Singh” in one line and “Prime Minister of India” in the second line within the same cell (B5) just like below:.

How would you do it?

First  solution used by most excel users is to format the cell with the “wrap text” option and then adjust the column so that the width is just sufficient to display the description “Dr. Manmohan Singh”. This will cause the text “Prime Minister of India” to flow to the next line. This method is not reliable because the presentation will appear that way only in the creator’s computer. If this excel file is to be sent to another person, the word Singh in the line “Dr. Manmohan Singh” may run off to the next line if the users uses another resolution.

The above method also restrict the user from adjusting the column width at will. To have a wider column, many users would have to insert sufficient space between each syntax i.e. Dr Manmohan Singh,           Prime Minister of India,  Address                 , Tel No. . This action can be resulted as below after increasing the width of column:

A fair amount of time is spent just for this purpose.

Unknown to many users, the description can be maintained in two different lines within the cell under all conditions.

WE NEED TO USE THE  “ALT” key and “ENTER” key together. Here is how:

1) Place the cursor after the word “Singh” (either by editing the cell using the function key F2 OR point the mouse button at the formula bar immediately after the word “Singh” and click on the left mouse button).
2) Press the button “ALT” together with the “ENTER” key. The text is immediately separated into two lines in a cell. Repeat this action after words “India,” & “Address:” Hit the “ENTER” key to confirm the change.