In Microsoft Excel, the default action when pressing the Enter key is to move down to the next cell. However, when working with a cell containing multiple lines of text, it can be frustrating to create a new line. Below are the keyboard shortcut keys to make this task easy.
How To Indent In Excel On Mac Shortcut
- The indent buttons on the Alignment tab can be a little confusing at first, until you get the hang of how they work. The directions of the arrows on the buttons don’t necessarily reflect the direction the text is going to move, but whether you are moving the text further away from, or closer to, the cell boundary.
- For extra space between cell text and the left or right cell border, click “Left (Indent)” or “Right (Indent).” Click “Distributed (Indent)” to have equal spacing between both the text and the cell borders on both sides. In the “Indent” box, select the size of your additional spacing.
How To Indent In Excel On Mac Keyboard
Author, teacher and talk show host Robert McMillen shows you how to indent cells in Microsoft Excel 2013. This shortcut increases the size of the indentation within a cell each time it is used. Microsoft Excel for Mac - Advanced. 4.7 (39 reviews) Microsoft.
All latest versions of Microsoft Excel
All versions of Microsoft Excel for the PC and Mac now support the ability to press the keyboard shortcut Alt+Enter to move to the next line. To use this keyboard shortcut, type text in the cell. When ready for a new line, press and hold down the Alt key, then press the Enter key. The shortcut key can be used as many times as needed.
NoteIf you are on a Mac and the above key doesn't work, try Control + Option + Return.
TipInstead of adding a note or lots of text in a cell, create a comment to make the spreadsheet look cleaner. For help creating a comment, see: How to create, edit, and delete a comment in Microsoft Excel.
Microsoft Excel in Windows
On all versions of Microsoft Excel for the PC and Windows, the keyboard shortcut Alt+Enter moves to the next line. To use this keyboard shortcut, type text in the cell and when ready for a new line, press and hold down the Alt key, then press the Enter key. The shortcut key can be used as many times as needed.
TipInstead of adding a note or lots of text in a cell, create a comment to make the spreadsheet look cleaner. For help creating a comment, see: How to create, edit, and delete a comment in Microsoft Excel.
Early versions of Microsoft Excel for the Mac
On earlier versions of Excel for the Mac, the Alt+Enter keyboard shortcut does not work. To create a new line on the Mac, use the Control + Option + Return keyboard shortcut. To use this keyboard shortcut, type text in the cell and when ready for a new line, press and hold down the Control key, Option key, and Return key. The shortcut key can be used as many times as needed.
TipInstead of adding a note or lots of text in a cell, create a comment to make the spreadsheet look cleaner. For help creating a comment, see: How to create, edit, and delete a comment in Microsoft Excel.
Additional information
- See our cell and new line definitions for further information and related links.