View a lot of text in a cell without changing the 'default' size of the cell

Copper Contributor

Good morning All,

 

I have a spreadsheet in which some of the cells each contain quite a large amount of text. However, I want to view all of that in-cell text 'in one go' without increasing the size of the cell itself (i.e. default/small). I have seen sometimes in the past, (on other spreadsheets - not mine), that when you roll your mouse cursor over the cell, all of the text contained in it then appears in a box ('call out box'?) right next to the cell.

 

Please could someone tell me how to 'make' that happen?

 

Many thanks in advance! :) 

 

7 Replies

@AndyG313 

Perhaps that was the text in notes/comments, not in the cell itself.

@AndyG313 

 

Different ways lead to Rome, also with Excel different ways lead to a solution.

with formating cells:

If text in a cell extends beyond the right edge of the cell, Excel will only display it if the cell on the right is empty. If there are numbers or formula results in a cell, the contents do not protrude beyond the edge of a cell that is too narrow. Instead, Excel cuts off the contents or uses a series of hashes # to indicate that the cell is too narrow.

 

The following figure shows what cell contents that are too long can look like in practice:

 

If you want to display this content entirely in the cells, one way is to change the column width. If this is not what you want, you can also reduce the font size of the cells so that the content is fully visible. You can do this automatically in the following way:

 

Select the cells you want to format.

Invoke the FORMAT CELLS command.

You can do this in all Excel versions using the key combination CTRL 1.

In the dialog box that appears, activate the ALIGNMENT tab.

Click the FIT TO CELL SIZE option.

Confirm your definition with the OK button.

 

Excel adjusts the font size of the cell contents that cannot be displayed in the cells so that they fit into the cells.

The advantage of this method of resizing in comparison to manual formatting is that the formatting is automatically adjusted if the cell contents or column widths change.

------------------------------

with VBA:

Excel auto format cell's font size based on number value?

 

 

I would be happy to know if I could help.

 

Nikolino

I know I don't know anything (Socrates)

 

* Kindly Mark and Vote any reply if it helps please, as it will be beneficial to more Community members reading here.

Hello Mr. Baklan,
it often happens that I don't see any other answer in a post and when I send my mail several answers appear at once.
As in this case, your answer, which was sent about 20 minutes before mine, but I could only read it after my answer was sent.

What can this be? ... has something like this ever happened to you here in the forum?

Thx in Advance

Niko

@NikolinoDE 

Sorry, I don't know what could be the reason. On my site Refresh always works.

Hi All, Many thanks for your replies.
However, I think I have found what I was looking for!...
All you have to do is Click within the cell and then all of the text appears, in a 'call out' box (if that's the right term!), right beside the cell :)
Thanks again.

@NikolinoDE Hi Nikolino,  Many thanks for your reply, but I want to do it without changing the cell size...

@AndyG2030 

That's not "hover the mouse" as you've seen before as it works with notes/comments. With your method you may also press F2 button or check the text in formula bar.