Use the Patterns tab in the Format Cells dialog box to set the background color of the selected cells. Click Home in the top toolbar. If the data is left-aligned, its indented from the left. On the Home tab, in the Alignment group, click the Increase Indent button. For example, setting line spacing to 1.15 will increase the space by 15 percent, and setting line spacing to 3 increases the space by 300 percent (triple spacing). By default, any text typed into a cell is aligned to the left while numbers are aligned to the right: Instead of moving the text or number directly to the right or left edge of the cell, you may want to add some extra space, like when you press the Tab key in Word. 2. Computer Help. To indent the first line of a paragraph, put your cursor at the beginning of the paragraph and press the tab key. You can do this by manually adding the space characters before the lines in which you want to add the indent. To create Fig. Generally, indentation is associated with tools like MS word or other word processors. If you type a number in the Size box that is not in the Size list, you see the following text at the bottom of the Font tab: "This font's size is not installed on the system. Select 1.5 lines to space text one-and-one-half times that of single spacing. Make sure you remember the number of spaces you entered in case you need to repeat it with other lines. You can see a preview of your settings by reviewing the Preview section of the dialog box. The indent of center-aligned text and numbers (which are right-aligned by default) cannot be decreased (you can keep clicking, nothing will happen). If you prefer using the mouse instead, Excel has the options in the ribbon where you can indent with a click on a button. Step 1: Firstly, double-click on the B5 cell. The values in the cells will use the General Alignment, which differs based on the data type of the cell. If you want to change the line color or style, click the style or color that you want, and then click the button for the border again. Rain graduated from San Francisco State University with a BA in Cinema. Display the day as a number without a leading zero. Select the cell you want to indent. In case you have multiple lines in the same cell, you may want to indent only some of the cells and not the others. Select Hanging to create a hanging indent, and then specify the size of the indent in By. Make sure the Alignment tab is selected. Display the hour using a 12-hour clock. Double-click on the cell (well take B4 as an example) or click once and press the F2 key to enter editing mode. Although Excel is geared toward manipulating numbersnot textit does make it possible to use some of the features word processors like MS Word offer to make your sheets easier to read. Then go to paragraph properties on the right. This gives a stacked appearance to text, numbers and formulas in the cell. For more information about cell formatting, click Microsoft Excel Help on the Help menu, type worksheet formatting in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topics returned. Finally, there are scenarios where Excel may automatically change the number format from General to something else, based on the characters that you typed into the cell. Looking for money-saving deals on Microsoft Office? Below is the keyboard shortcut you can do to that: ALT + H + 6 (to indent to the right) ALT + H + 5 (to indent to the left) To use this shortcut, select the cells where you want to apply the indent and then press these keys in succession (one . There is a button to do that right there in the ribbon, and you can also use a keyboard shortcut (if you are more comfortable with that). For example, if the format is #.0,, and you type 12,200,000 in the cell, the number 12.2 is displayed. If you go too far, select the "Decrease Indent" icon (back-facing arrow) to move the text back toward the left. The color palette on the Patterns tab is the same color palette from the Color tab of the Options dialog box. Choose 1.5 lines to space text one-and-one-half times that of single spacing. Choose Dont add space between paragraphs when you dont want extra space between paragraphs. Applying the new Hanging Indent style to existing text is either going to be time consuming . Wrapping the text in column B ensures the text stays within the dimensions of the cell and creates the visual effect of a hanging indent. Display whatever text is inside the quotation marks. To protect a worksheet, point to Protection on the Tools menu, click Protect Sheet, and then select the Contents check box. Display the hour as a number with a leading zero when appropriate. This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer. Looks nice! For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. Sticking to the simple look of things, we will indent the addresses slightly to the right. There are general, indentation, and spacing options available in the Paragraph dialog box options. Click the Dialog Box Launcher arrow at the bottom right corner of the Alignment. Under Text alignment, you control the horizontal, vertical alignment and indention. The current indent setting is displayed next to the Horizontal alignment menu. If there is text typed in the cell, the text from the cell is placed in the format where the @ symbol appears. For each part of the format, type symbols that represent how you want the number to look. For example, the following number format prevents any negative or zero values from being displayed: To set the color for any section in the custom format, type the name of the color in brackets in the section. Microsoft Excel lets you change many of the ways it displays data in a cell. All options have their bright moments and it really depends on the dataset. When this option is turned on (and the worksheet is protected), you cannot do the following: If you want to be able to type data in some cells after protecting the worksheet, make sure to clear the Locked check box for those cells. The Font option on the Font tab allows you to choose a typeface. If you enter a number between 0 and 1, and you use the custom format 0%, Excel multiplies the number by 100 and adds the % symbol in the cell. 3. What is printed may not match exactly what is on the screen. From beginner-friendly tutorials to advanced formulas and VBA guides, this site offers a wealth of information to help you work more efficiently and effectively. Notice it's not spaces. RELATED: How to Wrap Text in Microsoft Excel. Click the Home tab.3. By default, all cells in a worksheet have the Locked option turned on. To increase the indent, highlight the cells you want to format (B4:B13). These controls are Wrap Text, Shrink to Fit and Merge Cells. % of people told us that this article helped them. Place the cursor before the word in the text where you want the line break (weve chosen the word Tabby). Skip the width of the next character. For example, the following number format formats positive numbers blue and negative numbers red: Instead of the default positive, negative and zero sections in the format, you can specify custom criteria that must be met for each section. Display the next character in the format. You cannot have more than one asterisk in one section of the format. 3. How-To Geek is where you turn when you want experts to explain technology. If your content does not fit your cells width, wrap the content and then add a manual indent as explained below. Click the arrow next to the Pattern box, and then click the pattern style and color that you want. Then, select X Y (Scatter) or Bar in the left panel and choose an option. You can prevent any of the number types (positive, negative, zero) from being displayed by not typing symbols in the corresponding section. Repeat the next character in the format enough times to fill the column to its current width. To display text vertically from top to bottom, click the vertical Text box under Orientation. Select the cells with the content you want to indent. Thats all there is to it, but now lets deal with the second column that contains numbers. Format cell options. Yes, you can just press the Spacebar twice, but doing that when you operate with a large number of cells is way too time-consuming. You must log in or register to reply here. Follows the same rules as the 0 symbol except Excel does not display extra zeros when the number you type has fewer digits on either side of the decimal than there are # symbols in the format. For example, if you type 1.2345 in a cell where you only want two digits to the right of the decimal to be displayed, the cell displays the value 1.23. While your cell is selected, in Excels ribbon at the top, click the Home tab. The cell reference for a merged cell is the upper-left cell in the original selected range. wikiHow is where trusted research and expert knowledge come together. We'll stop right here. When you choose this, Left and Right become Inside . The level at which the paragraph appears in Outline view. Insert the indent size in the Indent field or use the up and down arrows to adjust the indentation. By default, all worksheet cells are formatted with the General number format. Options include: the number of decimal places, the symbol used for the currency, and the format to be used for negative numbers. Applies a border with the currently selected style and color to the bottom of the cell(s) in the selected region. You can rest the mouse over a color to see a ToolTip with the color name. To begin a new paragraph, typically you tab before typing, creating an indent on the first line. If you are working with a formula that returns a time where the number of hours exceeds 24, use a number format similar to [h]:mm:ss. A comma following a placeholder scales the number by a thousand. Click OK out of this form and the first one. To add an indent to a line, put your cursor to the front of that line and then press Spacebar. You can do this by selecting the text (like click within the text at the top, not just select the cell). This is a printer-resident font. Text will be aligned to the left. Multiplies the existing cell value by 100 and displays the result with a percent symbol. Follows the same rules as the 0 symbol except Excel places a space for insignificant zeros on either side of the decimal point so that decimal points are aligned in the column. For example, if the text is in 10-point font, you can specify 12 points as the line spacing. The address of a cell is given by the . With the General format, anything you type into the cell is usually left as-is. In the Alignment group, click the Alignment Setting dialog box launcher (the small arrow in the bottom right corner). Follow the steps below: Right click on A1 and choose format cells or you can use CTRL+1 excel shortcut to format cell. Select the cells with the text to be indented. Lets imagine you have a cell whose content is separated with the help of a line break, and you want only one line to be indented. Home Excel How to Indent Cell Data in Excel. By signing up you are agreeing to receive emails according to our privacy policy. Enter your text into the document. Under the "Home" tab, in the "Alignment" group, choose "Wrap Text." By default, all cells in a worksheet have the Hidden option turned off. I know the manual way, by using alt enter for each line, but is there a way to do it with VBA script, etc.? Selecting the Shrink to Fit option decreases the font size of the text in a cell until all the contents of the cell can be displayed. Menu. To start a new line when the Wrap Text option is selected, press ALT+ENTER while typing in the formula bar. is displayed. Digit placeholder. For example, setting line spacing to 1.15 will increase the space by 15 percent, and setting line spacing to 3 increases the space by 300 percent (triple spacing). On the Format menu, click Cells, and then click the Patterns tab. Double-click the cell in which you want to insert a line break (or select the cell and then press F2). Right-click and select the Format Cells option (a dialog box will open). Teensy bit of a longer route than from the ribbon buttons but easy nonetheless. Type the desired text. What makes this automatic? That was all about indenting text in Excel and we hope to have shed light on a simple thing today. The same font is used on both the printer and the screen. 2). The only option is the number of decimal places. From there, indents must be added using space characters. Use this method if your text extends beyond the right side of the cell. 0 here indicates that the selected data has no indents. Choose Cells from the Format menu. If the data is right-aligned, its indented from the right. Cheers to learning and experimenting! To quickly single space your entire document, see Single space lines in a document. Press and hold the return key to view the line break key, and then drag your finger to that key. Press OK. Each indent moves the contents of the cell to the right by about three characters. Cells formatted as text will treat anything typed into the cell as text, including numbers. Repeats the contents of the selected cell until the cell is full. The text will shift into multiple lines within the selected cell. As expected, indenting changes the appearance to the following (Fig. To do this, select the characters in the formula bar and click Cells on the Format menu. The list of choices in the Font Style list varies depending on the font that is selected in the Font list. Type . For example, if the number format is 0! Choose First line > By to indent the first line of a paragraph. This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Rain Kengly. When you press Enter to start the next paragraph, its first line will be indented. 4. To indent individual lines of text, use the space bar to insert the desired space. In this short Excel tutorial, I will show you how to indent In Excel. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/5\/56\/Indent-in-Excel-Step-3-Version-2.jpg\/v4-460px-Indent-in-Excel-Step-3-Version-2.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/5\/56\/Indent-in-Excel-Step-3-Version-2.jpg\/v4-728px-Indent-in-Excel-Step-3-Version-2.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":728,"bigHeight":546,"licensing":"