Our example strings are wilson.12345 and tennyson.4523.Let's work with an example where we have two text strings of different lengths, and we need to write a formula that will work with both of them. The FIND function can help you calculate this, which means you can write LEFT, RIGHT or MID functions that work with text strings of different lengths and components.Įxamples of the FIND() function in action. the number of characters to extract) or, in the case of the MID() function, you don't know the start_num (where to start extracting text from). The FIND function is very useful in the above functions if you don't know the num_chars (i.e. This would return 123 as the result these are the three characters in the string "wilson12345", starting from the 7th character in the string.In the previous example, you might enter this formula: The MID function is similar to the LEFT function, except you can specify which point in the text string from which to start extracting text. The MID() function has the following syntax: the first character) in the cell (A5 in this example). the 6 characters taken from a starting point of the left-most value (i.e. The value shown in the third cell is the result of the formula, i.e.To use the LEFT() function, follow these steps:Ĭlick on a cell and enter the LEFT() function: The LEFT() function works by taking the specified number of characters starting from the left end of the text value entered. The LEFT() function has the following syntax: This means that the result of the formula in this example can be used in other numerical calculations within your Excel spreadsheet.Note that in this example, the result of the RIGHT() formula, 12345, is a number and will be treated as such by Excel.the last character) in the cell (A3 in this example). the five characters taken from a starting point of the right-most value (i.e. The value shown in the third cell is the result of the formula, i.e. To use the RIGHT() function, follow these steps:Ĭlick on a cell and enter the RIGHT() function:Įnter the two arguments for the function as shown in the following example: Example of the RIGHT() function in action The RIGHT() function works by taking the specified number of characters starting from the right end of the text value entered. The RIGHT() function has the following syntax: You may also need to use the LEN() function, which calculates the length of a value in a cell. To do this, you can use one of the text manipulation functions available in Excel. For example, you may have a cell that contains a combination of text and numbers, or a cell that contains two numbers separated by a delimiter such as a comma. To indent individual lines of text, use the space bar to insert the desired space.Sometimes it is useful (or necessary) to extract part of a cell into another cell in Excel.Click your cursor into the desired cell.Turn on "Wrap Text" using the instructions above.However, you can still get this effect by completing the following steps: While you can change the indentation for a whole cell, you can not automatically indent individual lines of a cell. Indenting Individual Lines of Text in a Cell Under the "Home" tab, in the "Alignment" group, choose "Wrap Text." Excel will make the contents of each cell visible by displaying it on multiple lines.
MOVE TEXT TO NEXT LINE IN CELL IN EXCEL FOR MAC FREE HOW TO
These instructions will show you how to change a cell's text alignment, so that the text wraps within the cell. The wrap text option is useful if your text entry extends beyond the right edge of the cell. Using Multiple Lines of Text Using Wrap Text Option If you go too far, select the "Decrease Indent" icon (back-facing arrow) to move the text back toward the left.Each time you click the button, the selected text will indent further to the right. Under the "Home" tab, in the "Alignment" group, click the "Increase Indent" icon (right-facing arrow pointing towards lines that resemble text).(Make sure the cursor is not blinking within the selection.) Select the cell(s) whose entries you want to indent.To indent text in a cell, follow the steps below. Pressing the key in Excel does not indent text in a cell it simply moves the cell pointer to the next cell.