Google Sheets is not only about numbers in data. Some people also use it to manage text data like comments on a business page or responses to a questionnaire.
However. These kinds of data can be pretty text heavy, and if you’ve seen a spreadsheet in Google Sheets, those cells aren’t designed to hold that much. That’s where the Google spreadsheet text wrap feature comes in.
This feature lets your Google spreadsheet fit text to cells in different ways so that there is more sense to your data. So how do you wrap text in Google Sheets? In this article, we will show you how to wrap text in Google Sheets and all the other text wrapping options.
This Article Covers:
Consider Taking a Course
Since you’re here on a beginner’s article, you must be relatively new to using Google Sheets. Spreadsheet programs can be incredibly complex, and it’s often best to start out with a structured course to learn as much as possible as quickly as you can. This is our favorite beginners Google Sheets course on the web.
Wrap Text In a Google Spreadsheet Using the Format Menu
In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to text wrap in Google Sheets. Below I have the names of some of my favorite fictional characters and their address:
Note that since the address is longer than the width of the cell, it overflows and extends out of the cell. You may want to keep it within the cell if you have more text in adjacent cells (or simply for aesthetic purposes after you unhide rows). Here’s how to make text fit in Google Sheets:
- Select all the cells for which you want to wrap text.
- Find the Google Sheets wrap text option by heading to Format > Text Wrapping > Wrap.
This would wrap the text and make it fit within the cell.
Note that this will auto-fit the row height to adjust the content in the cell. There is another option to clip the text. You may want to use it when you want to maintain data but don’t want to read it. For example, long URLs can be a great example where you may want to use the clip option. Note that this wouldn’t clip the URL or any text in the cell. It will simply display a clipped version.
Related: How to Highlight Duplicates in Google Sheets
How to Wrap Text on Google Sheets Using the Toolbar
Another option for wrapping text in Google Sheets is to use the toolbar instead. Here’s how to make the text fit in Google spreadsheet using the toolbar:
- Highlight the cells you want the text to wrap in
- Click on the Text wrapping icon in the toolbar (just below the menu)
- Click on the Wrap Text icon (the reversing arrow)
How to Wrap Text in Google Sheets Mobile App
There is also a Google Sheets app that you can use on your Android or apple device. Google Sheets word wrap works just as well on mobile devices. You just have to follow these steps to learn how to make the text stay in a cell on your mobile device.
- Tap on the cell you want to format. You can select entire rows or columns by tapping on their letter or number. You can also modify the whole sheet by tapping the gray square in the far left corner.
- Press the formatting button marked with an A
- Click the Cell tab
- Scroll down until you see Wrap text
- Press the button
Related Content: How to Rotate Text in Google Sheets
How to Change Text Wrapping Settings in Google Sheets
We have shown you how to use Google Sheet wrap text in cell options. However, you may have noticed that there are other Google Sheet word wrap options in the wrapping menu. This includes:
- Overflow- This option lets the text in your cell flow out of the cell. This wrapping text option does not change the cell size.
- Wrap- This option creates a line break to split your text to new line below. This will also change the vertical cell width to accommodate the new line.
- Clip- This option cuts you text so that the part that overflows is not visible. This wrapping text option does not change the cell size
You can change your text wrapping settings to either one of these options by selecting your data and going to Format > Wrapping.
You can also change the alignment settings for the text. You can have the text aligned to the right, center, or middle. To do this, you can navigate to Format>Alignment. In this part of the Google Sheets menu, you can adjust both the horizontal and vertical alignment to get the text to look the way you wish (including indentation).
You can also use keyboard shortcuts to change the text alignment settings:
- Align Left- CTRL + SHIFT + L
- Align Center- CTRL + SHIFT + E
- Align Right- CTRL + SHIFT + R
How to Manually Wrap Text on Google Sheets
It is not the easiest method, but you can also manually wrap texts in Google Sheets by adding line breaks. All you need to do is:
- Click the cell with the text
- Put the cursor where you want to split the text string
- Click CTRL + ENTER
This will move the next part of the text to the next line to fill the cell and also automatically resize your cell width so that you can view the second line. However, this method won’t automatically change the column width.
Things to Keep in Mind
Cell Wrapping
When you use text wrapping, the cells will automatically resize vertically to fit the text. This can often cause the spreadsheet to look strange. You can make adjustments to the column width to counteract this issue.
Other Text Formats
Clip: When you choose clip the cell will always stay the same size and the text inside will clip to fit the size of the cell.
Overflow: Google Sheets text overflow option means the text from the cell will spill out over the edges of the cell to the right.
Using a Shortcut
Windows users can also use the following keyboard shortcut to wrap text. Alt + O, W, W or Alt + H, W.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why Is My Text Not Wrapping in Google Sheets? / What Is Text Wrapping in Spreadsheet?
Cells in Google Sheets have three possible formats wrap, clip, and overflow. By default, its usually set to clip. You can change it to wrap by heading to Format > Text Wrapping > Wrap.
Where Is the Wrap Text Feature in Google Sheets?
You can use the shortcut in the toolbar or head to Format > Text Wrapping > Wrap. There’s also a wrap text button on the toolbar that you can use instead of the format menu.
What Is the Shortcut Key to Wrap the Text in the Cell *?
You can use the keyboard shortcut Alt + O, W, W, or Alt + H, W. to wrap text.
The Bottom Line
Now that you know how to wrap text in Google Sheets, it should be easy to make your spreadsheets look much better. If you found this article interesting, you can also check out how to add bullet points in Google Sheets.
We have plenty of other simple tutorials to upgrade your skills. Check some of them out below.
-
- How to Quickly Split Text in Google Sheets.
- How to Remove Duplicates in Google Sheets.
- How to Count the Number of Words in Google Sheets.
- How to Create a Drop Down List in Google Sheets.
- How to Protect a Range of Cells in Google Sheets.
- Capitalize First Letters in Google Sheets (using Formula)
- How to Strikethrough in Google Sheets
