Controlling the Flow of Text

Excel offers several ways to control the flow of text within cells . Here are two of the most common text control features:

• Indent text from the left border of the cell

• Wrap text to break the text into multiple lines

Using Indents

You might want to indent your text to make it stand out in a column of text or numbers . Using the Detail worksheet in the My Budget workbook as an example, you can indent the Rent, Mortgage, Parking, Condo/Fees, and Misc row headings beneath the row heading Housing. That way, the items under Housing stand out and are easier to depict in the column.

In the next few steps, you indent data using the Format Cells dialog box and the Increase Indent button on the Formatting toolbar.

1. Click the Detail sheet tab. Select cells A5:A9.

2. Choose Format, Cells. Excel opens the Format Cells dialog box.

3. Click the Alignment tab. You should see Text Alignment options at the top of the tab.

4. Click the Horizontal down arrow and choose Left (Indent).

5. In the Indent box, click the up arrow once. The Indent number changes from to 1 , indicating the indentation will be one character width.

6. Click OK. Excel adjusts the text according to the Indent option you chose.

7. Select cells A13:A15.

8. Click the Increase Indent button on the Formatting toolbar.

9. Select cells A19:A20.

10. Click the Increase Indent button on the Formatting toolbar.

11. Click any cell to deselect the range. Figure 46.10 shows the indented text in column A.

    Figure 46.10. Indented text in a column.