Google Sheets is great for working on spreadsheets with lots of data in the cloud. But seeing only a portion of your entries in a document can look strange. That’s nothing to worry about since the app usually hides or overlaps excess text entries to preserve the structure of a sheet. However, if you’re putting together an extensive office report on one of thetop affordable Chromebooksor a simple item description on your smartphone, you can make your spreadsheet more presentable and readable with text wrapping in Google Sheets. Here’s everything you need to know about the feature.
Why wrap text in Google Sheets?
Text wrapping is a popular Google Sheets formatting tool that lets you show the full content of a cell by wrapping long entries within its boundaries. Enabling text wrapping for a cell (or a range of cells) in your sheet will automatically adjust the columns and continue the truncated entries on another line. This is essential when working with lengthy entries like descriptions, addresses, combined names, or notes.
Text wrapping in Google Sheets also lets you use the space in your spreadsheet more effectively, as you don’t have to widen the columns individually to accommodate lengthy text. It makes your spreadsheet look appealing and well-formatted without reducing font sizes or making cells appear overextended.
Collaboration and accessibility are other reasons to make your spreadsheets organized and readable with text wrapping. If you’re scouring for relevant data with theadvanced search tools in Google Sheets, you may miss out on truncated entries if you don’t wrap text.
How to wrap text in Google Sheets for the web
The Google Sheets web app offers several ways to deal with lengthy entries. It takes a few clicks to wrap text from the Format menu, but it’s faster when you use the toolbar or create a keyboard shortcut.
Wrap texts from the Format menu
Wrap text quickly from the toolbar
Wrapping text from the Format menu isn’t as fast for something that should take a click, right? you may skip the extra steps by clicking a button in the toolbar. You might have to squint your eyes to find it at first, but it’s just one time.
Create a shortcut to wrap text in Google Sheets
If wrapping text from the toolbar feels too cumbersome, or you prefer shortcuts, you may create one to work around it. The Macros extension in Google Sheets allows you to record actions that can be replicated with a keyboard shortcut. So, instead of clicking Format > Wrapping > Wrap every time, you can execute the keyboard shortcut instead.
Now, you’re able to wrap text in Google Sheets using your new shortcut. Simply select the text you want to wrap on the spreadsheet and execute the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+numberin WindowsorCMD+Option+Shift+numberon macOS). If you’re using macros for the first time, you may be asked for a one-time authorization. ClickContinuewhen the window pops to authorize the function.
Wrap text manually with keyboard shortcuts
Besides using the text wrapping function in Google Sheets, you can create a line break within the cell you’re editing to prevent it from clipping or overflowing to the next column. This works like jumping to the next line in a paragraph, but within the same cell in this case.
How to wrap text in the Google Sheets app
The Sheets app aims to simplify your experience and make your sheets accessible on the go. It skips some of the advanced features and functions you get on the web app, but that doesn’t mean you can’t wrap text right from your smartphone or tablet. It takes a couple of clicks compared to the web app, but it still works.
If you use Google Sheets on a tablet or with your smartphone tilted to landscape mode, you can use theText wrappingbutton in the toolbar instead.
Make Google Sheets work for you
Google Sheets might not be as robust as some traditional offerings like Microsoft Excel, but its strength lies in its simplicity. The app offersa handful of functions to improve your productivitywithout slacking on the advanced tools you need to get the job done. Wrapping text rescues you when entries won’t stay within their boundaries. And if you ever run into further issues, you may count on thesetips to solve the most common Google Sheets problems easily.
