Forum Discussion
Help with Excel 'Format copy' does not include 'new line (Alt Enter) within a cell.
Hello, Note that Excel 'format copy' does not copy over the 'new line (Alt Enter)' within a cell.
Is there another way to copy format of a cell that includes the 'new line' formatting?
6 Replies
a 'new line' (Alt Enter) is just text not formatting. The only 'formatting' to be 'copied' would be word wrap which is related but different. Word wrap (in the alignment grouping on the home tab) will wrap text inside a cell when it reaches the end of the cell. If excel detects a 'new line' character in the text it will typically turn word wrap on and that character will force a line break before it necessarily reaches the end of the cell. A cell with a 'new line' character in it but with word wrap turned off will NOT go to a new line.
I do not know what you mean by 'Format copy' but if you copy a cell with word wrap turned on and paste formatting onto another cell it will turn word wrap on. Also if you use the format painter it will also turn it on.
Note that I meant format painter by 'format copy'.
With Word Wrap ‘On’ within a cell I still need to force a ‘new line’ by using keys: [Alt] [Enter] (I consider this part of formatting, since it impacts how the text is ‘displayed’).
How to keep this same display when copying from cell to cell?
As I said, the actual formatting (word wrap on) does get 'painted'. If you copy a cell that has a 'new line' character, that 'new line' character will also get copied over. the format painter can NOT arbitrarily insert a new line character into another cell. it would have no idea where to insert it. YOU can create a formula using SUBSTITUTE or REPLACE or other text functions to 'insert' a CHR(10) character according to what ever 'rule' you need.
