Enter multiple lines in a single Excel cell

When you have a lot of text in your Excel cells it can be a good idea to show it on more than one line. But how? Every time you enter text into a cell it longs to be on one line however long it is.

Here is how you can insert more than one line into one cell on your Excel worksheet. Enter more than one line in a single Excel cell.

The detailed instructions to start a new line in a cell are provided: 3 ways to insert a line break in Excel.

5 steps to insert multiple lines into a cell

Say you have a column with full names in your table and want to get the first and last ones on different lines. With these simple steps you can control exactly where the line breaks will be.

  1. Click on the cell where you need to enter multiple lines of text.
  2. Type the first line.
  3. Press Alt + Enter to add another line to the cell.

    Tip. Keep pressing Alt + Enter until the cursor is where you would like to type your next line of text.

  4. Type the next line of text you would like in the cell.
  5. Press Enter to finish up.

So just don't forget the Alt + Enter shortcut to get a line break at a specific point in a cell regardless of the cells width.

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121 comments

  1. Hello,

    Thank u so much to whoever published it as it helped me a lot.

  2. Thanks for guiding me

  3. Hi

    when I enter data using Alt+Enter, it does move to the next line but now all that I can see is #########. Please could you help me with that?

    • colum width needs increasing or use wrap text

  4. thanks my dear it working very good

  5. I have following data in one cell

    1980 : B.Com ; 1982 : MBA ; 1985 : P.hD

    I want to align data as given below :
    1980 : B.Com ;
    1982 : MBA ;
    1985 : P.hD

    I have huge list. I can not use alt entre for the entire list.
    Kindly help me suggesting different way of formatting

    • Hello Priya,

      You can select your records and use the standard Find and Replace feature in Excel: enter a semicolon and a space in the "Find what" field, switch to the Replace with field, enter a semicolon and press Ctrl+j on your keyboard, this shortcut stands for a line break. Then click "Replace All".

  6. Try using different ALT key.

  7. Its not working me.. Alt + Enter. Do anyone has any other suggestions?

    • Do Space and wrap the cell

    • Press Ctrl+Enter

  8. Thank You alexandar

  9. thanku buddy

  10. THANKYOU SO MUCH

  11. Great!
    Very Helpful indeed

  12. Thanks a lot. it helped me to make my work easier.

  13. Thanks so much!

  14. thank you!!!

  15. Thanks, it make me easy to edit my worksheets

  16. ALT + ENTER WORKED FOR ME

  17. many thanks

  18. Very thanks

  19. Hey thanks Alexander, (Alt+Enter) worked for me.

  20. Thanks

    • THANKS

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