While working with Excel, we sometimes enter long text strings in a cell so that the contents either spill over to the empty adjacent cells, or are visually clipped such that we cannot see the rest of the contents.
We can display all the contents of column C above by doing any of these methods:
- Adjust the column width to show the contents
- Wrap the text in cells C4:C6
- Insert a line break or a hard return
This article assists all levels of Excel users on how to add a hard return in a cell.
What is a hard return?
Hard return, also referred to as a paragraph or line break, causes a line to break at a certain point, and begins the next line with the remaining text string.
It can be done through the keyboard shortcut:
Alt + Enter
How to add a hard return?
In order to make a hard return or the equivalent of a carriage return, we simply follow these steps:
- Enter the edit mode by pressing F2 or double-clicking the cell we want to edit
- Suppose we want to insert a hard return before “123” in cell C4. We place the cursor to the left of “123”.
- Press Alt + Enter on the keyboard
Only “4th Floor” remains in the first line of text while “123 8th Avenue New York” is now on the second level.
We can insert one more hard return within the cell after “Avenue” to enter “New York” on the third line. Below image shows the output after we have inserted hard returns to cell C4. All the contents of the cell are now visible in the window.
We can do the same to the succeeding cells C5 and C6 in order to display all the contents in the cells.
We have successfully added hard returns within the cells and we can now apply this tip when entering data into our worksheet. Hard returns come in handy when we want to force line breaks within cells with long text strings or sentences, and it is super easy to do with just one shortcut: Alt + Enter.
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Section and page breaks Word 2010
When you fill a page with text or graphics, Word inserts an automatic page break and starts a new page. To force a page break at a specific location, you can insert a manual page break. In the example below:
An automatic page break is indicated by a dotted line.
A manual page break is a dotted line labeled “Page Break”.
Page breaks
In cases where you need to have text begin on a new page, such as the beginning of a new chapter, insert a manual page break at the point where you want the new page to begin. (Don’t press the Enter key repeatedly until a new page begins.)
To insert a manual page break, follow these steps:
- Click where you want to insert the page break.
- On the Insert menu, click Page Break.
Section breaks
Word uses Section Breaks to divide the document in sections. Within sections, it is possible to vary the layout of the document. For example, one section can have page numbering in Roman numerals, while another section can use Arabic numbers.
The template contains two Section Breaks: just before the Table of Contents and at the beginning of Chapter 1.
Page properties, such as margins, page numbers, and number of columns are applied within a section of the document. If you need to modify these properties in a portion of your document, you will need to insert Section Breaks at the beginning and end of that portion.
To insert a section break, follow these steps:
- Click where you want to insert the section break.
- On the Page Layout tab, click on Breaks, and then under Section Breaks, click Next Page. This will insert the section break, and text following the section break will begin on a new page.
- If you want the text to continue on the same page, under Section Breaks, click Continuous.