Preserve Line Breaks in Excel Cells

  • Thread starter Thread starter DaveC426913
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Excel
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the challenge of preserving line breaks when transferring postal addresses from a Word table to an Excel spreadsheet. Participants explore methods to maintain formatting within Excel cells, as well as alternative approaches to organizing the data.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested
  • Homework-related

Main Points Raised

  • One participant asks if it is possible to have line breaks within a single cell in Excel, expressing frustration over previous attempts.
  • Another participant suggests that if line breaks cannot be preserved, separating each item of data into different columns might be preferable.
  • Multiple participants provide a method for merging cells in Excel, though there is confusion about whether this truly addresses the original question regarding line breaks.
  • One participant humorously critiques Excel's merging functionality, noting that it only retains data from the top-left cell when merging.
  • Another participant shares that pressing alt+enter can insert a line break within a cell, which is met with enthusiasm from others who have struggled with this issue.
  • One participant expresses disappointment that the requirements for data organization have changed, complicating the solution further.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a mix of agreement on the usefulness of the alt+enter method for inserting line breaks, but there is no consensus on the best overall approach to organizing the data, as some prefer merging cells while others advocate for separating data into distinct columns.

Contextual Notes

There are limitations regarding the effectiveness of merging cells in Excel, as it may not preserve all data as intended. Additionally, the discussion reflects varying requirements for data organization, which complicates the solutions proposed.

DaveC426913
Gold Member
2025 Award
Messages
24,480
Reaction score
8,745
I need to get a Word table of postal addresses into an Excel spreadsheet.

I want to preserve the line breaks in the original addresses. Is it possible to have line breaks within a single cell in Excel?

From Word table:


...Col 1...Col2

R1: Bob Smith...21 Foo St.
......Toronto ON
......M8Q 2S2
R2: Biff Grunties...43 Bar St.
......Toronto ON
......M4V 1D8


into Excel sheet: :approve: :approve: :approve: :approve: :


...Col 1...Col2

R1: Bob Smith...21 Foo St.
......Toronto ON
......M8Q 2S2
R2: Biff Grunties...43 Bar St.
......Toronto ON
......M4V 1D8


what I'm getting now :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :

...Col 1...Col2

R1: Bob Smith...21 Foo St.
R2: ...Toronto ON
R3: ...M8Q 2S2
R4: Biff Grunties...43 Bar St.
R5: ...Toronto ON
R6: ...M4V 1D8
 
Computer science news on Phys.org
DaveC426913 said:
Is it possible to have line breaks within a single cell in Excel?

I've never been able to do it, not through lack of effort thought
 
Failing that, each item of data in a separate column is preferred:

From Word table:

...Col 1...Col2
R1: Bob Smith...21 Foo St.
......Suite 700
......Toronto ON
......M8Q 2S2
R2: Biff Grunties...43 Bar St.
......Toronto ON
......M4V 1D8
......(800) 555-1212


To Excel sheet:


...Col 1...Col 2...Col 3...Col 4...Col 5...Col 6...Col 7...

R1: Bob Smith...21 Foo St....Suite 700......Toronto ON...M8Q 2S2
R2: Biff Grunties...43 Bar St.........Toronto ON...M4V 1D8...(800) 555-1212
 
Last edited:
There are a lot of ways to do this, but here is one way:

Select the three cells that you want to merge. Right click and select format cells. Click on the alignment tab and then check the "merge cells" check box. Then click the down arrow on the vertical alignment box and choose either top, bottom, center, etc. (whatever suits your needs)

If I completely misread your question, then I apologize.:redface:
 
Omega_6 said:
There are a lot of ways to do this, but here is one way:

Select the three cells that you want to merge. Right click and select format cells. Click on the alignment tab and then check the "merge cells" check box. Then click the down arrow on the vertical alignment box and choose either top, bottom, center, etc. (whatever suits your needs)

If I completely misread your question, then I apologize.:redface:
Gah! Is THAT where the MERGE CELLS command is! I've been looking for it!

Thanks. That may not still not work, but it's one more club in my bag.
 
Well, at least it helped a little bit.:smile:
Let me know if you get it or not, or maybe go into more detail.
 
Well, doesn't that just blow honkin' donkey chunks.

Excel's idea of a merge is to keep only the data in the top-left-most cell - it displays a warning to say so. That's not a merge at all!

Can you imagine if that *were* the definition of merge?

"Warning: merging traffic. Only traffic in left lane will be kept. All other traffic will explode."
 
That was just great...:smile:

Anyways, I know that I've done something similar to what you are trying to do. I'll look into it later, its just been a while.:wink:

::edit:: Pressing alt+enter will insert a line break within a cell.
 
Last edited:
Omega_6 said:
::edit:: Pressing alt+enter will insert a line break within a cell.

That is soooo helpful, I've been trying to do a similar thing for months

~Hoot
 
  • #10
Hootenanny said:
That is soooo helpful, I've been trying to do a similar thing for months

~Hoot

:approve: :approve: :approve: :approve: That's the answer!

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: Too bad the requirements have changed in the meantime! Now they want each piece of data (addr1 addr2 city, prov, etc.) in its own column!