In Excel, is there a limit on the amount of text that can go into a cell? I
have to create either a spreadsheet or a database (table definitely doesn't
work for my purposes) in which one of the fields will have to be large enough
to take a significant amount of text - anywhere from one sentence to the
equivalent of half a page.

yes there is
A cell can contain up to 32,767 characters but it will display only 1024 in
the cell (The rest will show up in the formula bar.)
there is a limit past which the cell format does not apply to the new
characters. I don't remember what it is, but it is very obvious when it
hits.

"joodles" wrote:

In Excel, is there a limit on the amount of text that can go into a cell? I
have to create either a spreadsheet or a database (table definitely doesn't
work for my purposes) in which one of the fields will have to be large enough
to take a significant amount of text - anywhere from one sentence to the
equivalent of half a page.

Joodles,

http://www.smokeylake.com/excel/vfaq.htm. Read item "TEXT IN A CELL -- HOW
MUCH?"

--
Earl Kiosterud
mvpearl omitthisword at verizon period net
-------------------------------------------

"joodles" wrote in message
...
In Excel, is there a limit on the amount of text that can go into a cell?
I
have to create either a spreadsheet or a database (table definitely
doesn't
work for my purposes) in which one of the fields will have to be large
enough
to take a significant amount of text - anywhere from one sentence to the
equivalent of half a page.

joodles

Excel Help on "limits" or "specifications" reveals that Excel will allow
32,767 characters to be entered in a cell.

However, it goes on to state that "only 1024 characters will be visible or can
be printed"

To work around this limitation, stick a few ALT + ENTERs in at appropriate
spots.

The ALT + ENTER forces a line-feed and expands the 1024 limit.

How far is not really known. Just experiment.

.........From Dave Peterson..........

I put this formula in A1:
="xxx"& REPT(REPT("asdf ",25)&CHAR(10),58)&"yyy"

And adjusted the columnwidth, rowheight and font size and I got about 7300
characters to print ok.

.........End Dave P.................

Failing that, use a Text Box to store the text.


Gord Dibben Excel MVP


On Tue, 14 Jun 2005 11:56:05 -0700, "joodles"
wrote:

In Excel, is there a limit on the amount of text that can go into a cell? I
have to create either a spreadsheet or a database (table definitely doesn't
work for my purposes) in which one of the fields will have to be large enough
to take a significant amount of text - anywhere from one sentence to the
equivalent of half a page.