It makes more sense (kind of...). But wraptext needs to be on for alt-enters to
force new lines, if wraptext is off, then you see a little box where that
alt-enter would be.

I think what you want is alt-enter to force a new line with or without wraptext
checked. Everything else will overflow to the right.

if you want to pursue this, you can request an enhancement:


Good luck,

SteveB wrote:

Perhaps "wraptext" is the wrong verbage.
What I would like to see is if I use an "ALT-ENT," the text should break at
that point, regardless if I have chosen "wraptext" or not.
If wraptext is NOT selected, then the second line would show up and spill
into the adjacent cells.
If wraptext IS selected, then the text would stay within that cell.
Does that make more sense?
thanks
Steve

"Dave Peterson" wrote:

This portion: "I think Microsoft should have a format option that allows text
wrapping
WITHOUT confining the text to that column."

How would excel know when you wanted to overflow to the adjacent cell and when
you wanted to wraptext--The wraptext will break automatically when the text
becomes long--not just when you have alt-enters in the cell.



SteveB wrote:

Well, we are getting closer. One reason I don't want to use merged cells is
I use color fill as coding to indicate the duration of an event. If the text
goes farther than the event's duration, then I would lose track of the
event's actual duration.

I tried your technique - yes a bit cumbersome, but seems to do the trick.
I found an equally cumbersome trick as well - using text boxes. I can put
my lines of text in text box and overlay it with the event. Of course I have
to size the box and align it with the cell.

I think Microsoft should have a format option that allows text wrapping
WITHOUT confining the text to that column.

If this is a hidden feature in Excel, I hope someone can tell me about it.

Thanks for the input.
SteveB

"Dave Peterson" wrote:

If I had to have this, I'd bite the bullet and use MergedCells (ugh!).

But maybe you could do something else.

Put that long string into another cell. Make it look exactly the way you want
(use whatever width you want).

Now Edit|Copy that cell.
Back to the "real" location
shift-edit|Paste Picture Link

Now you have a picture that can overflow into the adjacent cell.

(I'm not sure which one I'd hate more--the picture or the mergedcell!)

SteveB wrote:

Yes, that is what I found as you described in first two paragraphs. Problem
is my columns are only 3 units wide. Even typing my name in a cell spills
across 2 columns. I am using 10 font, and don't want to go much smaller.
Shrink to fit definately is too small. (My eyes aren't what they used to be
you know).

Any other ideas?
thanks
Steve

"Dave Peterson" wrote:

Once you use alt-enter, the wraptext property is set to on. This means the text
won't spill over into the adjacent cell.

If you turn off the wraptext (format|cells|alignment tab), then your alt-enters
will turn to little boxes and you won't see separate lines within the cell.

Maybe you can change the font to something smaller???
Or even Format|cells|alignment tab|shrink to fit???

SteveB wrote:

That is one option, but in this case I can't widen the columns. I made a
calendar and the columns need to remain a uniform width.

Any other thoughts?
Thanks
Steve

"Don Guillett" wrote:

You will have to widen the column

--
Don Guillett
SalesAid Software

"SteveB" wrote in message
...
I would like to enter two lines of text in a single row (using ALT-ENT),
but
I don't want to merge cells. It's ok if the text spills across adjacent
columns. And I don't want the text to wrap. Any ideas?
thanks




--

Dave Peterson


--

Dave Peterson


--

Dave Peterson


--

Dave Peterson