Microsoft Office

Worksheet Formatting 7
The Shrink To Fit option reduces the size of the text so that it fits into the cell without spilling over to the
next cell. Usually, it’s easier to make this adjustment manually.
NOTE
If you apply Wrap Text formatting to a cell, you can’t use the Shrink To Fit formatting.
Merging worksheet cells to create additional text space
Excel also enables you to merge two or more cells. When you merge cells, you don’t combine the contents
of cells. Rather, you combine a group of cells into a single cell that occupies the same space. The worksheet
shown in Figure 7.6 contains four sets of merged cells. For example, range C2:I2 has been merged into a
single cell, and so has range J2:P2. In addition, ranges B4:B8 and B9:B13 have also been merged. In the latter
two cases, the text direction has been changed (see “Displaying text at an angle,” later in this chapter).
FIGURE 7.6
Merge worksheet cells to make them act as if they were a single cell.
You can merge any number of cells occupying any number of rows and columns. In fact, you can merge all
17,179,869,184 cells in a worksheet into a single cell. However, the range that you intend to merge should
be empty except for the upper-left cell. If any of the other cells that you intend to merge are not empty,
Excel displays a warning. If you continue, all the data (except in the upper-left cell) will be deleted. To
avoid deleting data, click Cancel in response to the warning.
You can use the Alignment tab in the Format Cells dialog box to merge cells, but using the Merge And
Center control on the Ribbon (or on the Mini toolbar) is simpler. To merge cells, select the cells that you
want to merge and then click the Merge And Center button. This button acts as a toggle. To unmerge cells,
select the merged cells and click the Merge And Center button again.
After you’ve merged cells, you can change the alignment to something other than Center.
Displaying text at an angle
In some cases, you may want to create more visual impact by displaying text at an angle within a cell. You
can display text horizontally, vertically, or at an angle between 90 degrees up and 90 degrees down.
The Home ➪ Alignment ➪ Orientation drop-down lets you apply the most common text angles. But for
more control, use the Alignment tab of the Format Cells dialog box. In the Format Cells dialog box, use the
Degrees spinner control — or just drag the pointer in the gauge. You can specify a text angle between –90
and +90 degrees.
Figure 7.7 shows an example of text displayed at a 45-degree angle.
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