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When you have a long sentence or long strings in a cell in Google Sheets, you will find that it overflows to the adjacent cells on the right (something as shown below). This is the main reason you may want to learn how to wrap text in Google Sheets.
This is often the case when you’re entering sentences or addresses in the cells. The right way would be to wrap the text in the cells so that it doesn’t overflow to other cells (something as shown below)
Wrapping is one method of how to make text fit in Google Sheets. The other is clipping. To wrap text, Google Sheets has a few tricks. Let’s take a look at them.
How To Wrap Text in Google Sheets
Step 1: Select the cell range you want to wrap
Step 2: Click “Format” on the toolbar at the top
Step 3: Place the cursor on the “Wrapping” option
Step 4: The last step is to select “Wrap” in the drop-down menu to wrap the selected cells
How To Wrap Text in Google Sheets (Automatically)
Text wrapping in Google Sheets is actually quite easy, and one can also change text wrapping settings easily. There may not be text functions for this, but you don’t necessarily need them.
Text overflowing is the default wrapping text option in Google Sheets. Below are the steps to the two methods to wrap text in Google Sheets:
Wrapping Text In Google Sheets With the Format Menu
- Select the cells that you want to wrap
- Click the “Format” option in the menu
- Hover the cursor on the “Text Wrapping” option
- Select “Wrap“
The above steps will instantly wrap the text in the selected cells in Google Sheets.
How To Wrap Text in Google Sheets With the Toolbar
The Google spreadsheet word wrap “Wrap Text” option is also available in the toolbar (which is just below the menu options).
To wrap text from the toolbar, select the cells that you want to wrap and then click on the wrap text icon (it’s one of the three available options when you click on the Text Wrapping icon).
Google Sheets How To Make Text Stay in Cell – How Does it Choose?
This is determined by the width of the columns. When text wrap is enabled, Google Sheets tries to fit the content of the cell in the same cell based on the column width. So, if your column width is enough to fit all the text in one single line, Google Sheets will do that.
Related: How To Autofit Column Width in Google Sheets
But if your column width is less, it will fit the content of the cell so that the text doesn’t overflow and remains within the same cell (by splitting it into multiple lines in the same cell).
When the text is wrapped, Google Sheets will automatically adjust the height of the cell to fit the content.
Note: The text wrap option works as a toggle. Once you have enabled it, you can disable it by following the same steps mentioned above.
There is another option you can consider using when you don’t want the text to overflow, CLIP.
The ‘Clip‘ option is available as one of the options under Text Wrapping, and it clips the text so that it doesn’t overflow to the adjacent cells. This could be useful when you want to have the text but don’t want it to overflow and also don’t have the need to have the complete text visible. This can be the case with long URLs or even addresses.
Don’t worry. When you use the Clip option, it will not delete any text. It just hides any text that was overflowing earlier.
How To Text Wrap in Google Sheets Manually (Keyboard Shortcut)
In some cases, you may not want to wrap based on the column width, but instead, be able to specify where you need the text to be wrapped. In the below example, you may also want each part of the address (house/street number, city, state, and Pin code) separately.
If you rely on Google Sheets’ inbuilt wrapping functionality, it will wrap based on column width. But you can also manually specify where you want the line to break.
Below are the steps to add Google Sheets text wrap line break manually:
- Select the cell where you want to insert the line break, and then press F2 (or double-click on the cell). This will take you to edit mode, where you can change the content of the cell.
- Bring the cursor to the place where you want to insert the line break
- Hold the ALT key and then press Enter (ALT + Enter)
The above steps would insert a line break and will make sure the sentences/text before and after the line break are in separate lines.
Note that when you insert a line break in a cell, it will bring the text after the line break to the next line, even if you have not applied the text wrapping.
How To Create a Keyboard Shortcut to Wrap Text Using Macros in Google Sheets
The Google Sheets app allows one to use macros while working on a spreadsheet. A macro is simply a recording of mouse clicks and keystrokes you can edit. It can also be described as a small program that automates tasks in spreadsheets.
You can follow the step-by-step guide to learn how to create a keyboard shortcut to wrap text using macros in Google Sheets.
Step 1: Â Select the cells you want to wrap.
Step 2: After you have selected your cells, navigate to the Google Sheets toolbar and select “Extension.”
Step 3: A pop menu will appear. Select “Macro” from the pop-up menu, then click “Record Macro.”
Step 4: Another pop-up menu will appear at the bottom middle sector of the screen. Select “Use reflective references” from the options.
Step 5: The next step is to name and assign a shortcut key number, then click “Save.”
For Mac users, the keyboard shortcut is, Command + Option + Shift + your preferred number
The alignment settings are what carries the text wrapping option. Apart from text wrap, the alignment setting in Google Sheets also contains; horizontal alignment, vertical alignment, indentation, and merge cells.
How To Wrap Text in the Google Sheets Mobile App
You can also wrap text on your mobile device. Here’s how:
- Tap the cell you’d like to format or entire columns or rows by selecting their letter or number
- Tap the AÂ Formatting button
- Tap the “Cell tab” and scroll down until you get to “Wrap” text
- Click the toggle that turns Google Sheets text wrap on
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do You Wrap Text in Google Sheets?
The simplest way is to:
- Highlight the applicable cells
- Click the text wrap shortcut in the toolbar
What Is the Shortcut for Wrap Text in Google Sheets?
You have to highlight the applicable cells and press ALT + Enter.
Why Is Text Not Wrapping in Google Sheets?
Text wrapping is no longer automatic in Google Sheets. You likely have Clip or Overflow set as your default formatting. You can change it in the Format menu manually with the keyboard shortcut ALT +Enter.
Learn More About Google Sheets
Now that you know how to wrap text in Google Sheets, you may want to check out our guide to adding a new line to the same cell in Google Sheets.
You may also be interested in the following tutorials:
