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 To Do exercise, you indent data using the Format Cells dialog box and the Increase Indent button on the Formatting toolbar.

To Do: Indent ...

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