Techniques for Line Breaks in Excel and Google Spreadsheets

To ensure clear text display in Excel cells, utilizing line breaks is essential. Unlike Word, the method of line breaks in Excel and Google Spreadsheets varies and might not be common knowledge to all.

Excel Line Breaks Mastery

Discover the Simplest Ways to Insert Line Breaks in Excel Regardless of Your Excel Version. Just Follow Our Step-by-Step Guide to Uncover This Feature.

Tip: Easily Insert Line Breaks Anywhere: Hover Over the Desired Location and Press Ctrl+Enter Simultaneously

Comprehensive Compilation of Detailed Methods for Inserting Line Breaks in Excel

1. Writing Line Breaks in Excel Cells Using ALT + Enter Shortcut

With the Alt + Enter key combination, you can insert line breaks at will. Simply place the cursor where you want to break the line and press Alt + Enter.

For instance: In the content column, if you want to break the line at the word 'Word,' simply position the cursor there and press Alt + Enter, and the cells will automatically break the line.

- Result:

2. Employing Line Breaks in Excel Cells Using Wrap Text Feature

2.1. Line Breaks in Excel 2021, 2019, and 2016

+ Download Link for Excel 2021
+ Download Link for Excel 2019
+ Download Link for Excel 2016

Step 1: To insert line breaks in Excel 2021, 2019, and 2016, simply click on the desired cell, then in the Home Tab, select Wrap Text. That's it!

As a result, the line will automatically wrap, and the column width will adjust based on the longest text. This method is applied in the Mytour article using Excel 2016. If you're using Excel 2019 or 2021, you can also utilize the line break feature in Excel similarly.

2.2. Line Breaks in Excel 2013

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Step 1: To insert line breaks in Excel 2013, simply click on the desired cell, then in the Home Tab, select Wrap Text. That's it!

Consequently, the line will automatically wrap, adjusting the column width based on the longest text. Additionally, Mytour has a tip to share with you on how to insert line breaks faster by pressing Alt + Enter.

2.3. Line Breaks in Excel 2010

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Step 1: The process is similar to inserting line breaks in Excel 2016 and 2013. Simply select the desired row, column to break, then click on the Home tab > Wrap Text.

Step 2: And the result afterwards, you probably already know, the line break trick has been completed.

2.4. Line Breaks in Excel 2007 using Wrap Text

+ Download Link for Excel 2007

Step 1: There's not much difference in versions 2016, 2013, 2010, or 2007. Inserting line breaks in the same Excel cell is straightforward; simply use Wrap text in the Home tab and apply it to the designated object.

The outcome is similar, much faster than Excel 2003. However, all the above versions can also be used similarly to Excel 2003, providing another way to insert line breaks in Excel cells.

2.5. Line Breaks in Excel 2003

+ Download Link for Excel 2003

Step 1: Right-click on the cell where you want to insert a line break in the Excel spreadsheet and select Format Cells... from the dropdown list.

Step 2: Execute line breaks within an Excel cell

Once the Format Cells window appears, click on the Alignment tab and check the box next to Wrap text. Finally, click OK to finish.

3. Line Breaks in Excel using Find & Replace

In addition to the methods above, you can apply the Find & Replace tool to fix issues with line breaks in Excel.

Step 1: In Excel, select the cell you want to insert a line break.
Step 2: Press the line break shortcut in Excel 'Ctrl + H' or follow these steps: in the Home tab on the toolbar, click on 'Find & Select'.

then click 'Replace'.

Step 3: The dialog box appears. In the box:
- Find what: Enter the character after which you want the line break. For example, if Mytour wants the phrase after a comma line break, Mytour will enter the character ','.
- Replace with: Press the shortcut 'Ctrl + J' to add a line break. 
After filling in, click 'Replace All'.

Step 4: Click 'Ok' as shown below. Then, click the x to close the dialog box.

Thus, you have completed line breaks in Excel and Google Spreadsheets.

4. Line Breaks in Excel using the Justify Alignment Feature

With line breaks in Excel using the Justify alignment feature, you do as follows:

Step 1: Right-click on the cell containing the paragraph needing line breaks.

Step 2: Choose the Format Cell option to open the dialog box.

Step 3: In the Format Cell dialog box, select Alignment => Then select from the dropdown menu in Horizontal => Click on Justify and then press OK.

- Result:

5. Utilize line breaks in Excel within 1 cell when concatenating strings

Step 1: Identify the cells containing the strings to concatenate. For example, here are cells A1:D1.

Step 2: Select the cell to store the value and enter the formula &CHAR(10)

Here select cell A2 as the value storage cell and input the formula. If there are multiple cells, simply add & after each formula addition as follows:

= A1&CHAR(10)&B1&CHAR(10)&C1&CHAR(10)&D1

Step 3: If the value storage cell only displays as a single line, select that cell and change the format to Wrap Text.

So now through this article, you've learned another useful trick for line breaks in Excel and Google Spreadsheets. Additionally, there are many more tricks, functions to learn such as the DAVERAGE function (conditional average), the LEFT function (substring from the left), or the Excel file recovery trick. The more you learn, the better you'll master this fantastic tool from Microsoft.

Download links for various Excel Office versions

- Download Office 2021 here.
- Download Office 2019 here.
- Download Office 2016 here.
- Download Office 2013 here.
- Download Office 2010 here.
- Download Office 2007 here.
- Download Office 2003 here.

Hopefully, with the line break command in Excel and Google Spreadsheets above, you'll gain more insight into how to use Excel and apply it to your work most effectively. Especially for those in accounting, knowing the date formats in Excel is crucial as it directly relates to financial matters, ledgers. Therefore, after learning and practicing the line break method in Excel, check out the link below in our article discussing various date formats in Excel across different versions.

Refer to the details in this article:

More information: Line break function in Excel cell