In Cell Text Formats – 2 Quick Tips

Did you know you can apply any text effect to a single character or group of text characters within a cell ?

How?

Select the cell

Enter Edit Mode by pressing F2

Move to the characters you want to edit,

Hint 1: Use Ctrl and the Left/Right Arrows to jump words left and right

Hint 2: Use Ctrl Home/End to Jump to the Start /End of the cells text

Select the text with Shift and Left/Right Arrows

Hint 3: Use Ctrl Shift and the Left/Right Arrows to Jump over and select words left and right

Apply the format, see below for a list of available formats

You can then move to other characters and edit them as appropriate.

Here is a quick demo:

Did you know you can apply any text effect to text as you enter it?

How?

As you are typing some text try the following

Enter some text, as you are typing apply Bold (Ctrl B), Italic (Ctrl I), Underline (Ctrl U) to toggle the effects on,

Hint 4: Use the keyboard shortcuts,  Bold (Ctrl B), Italic (Ctrl I), Underline (Ctrl U) again to toggle the effect on/off as required

You can also apply color /font by using the appropriate menu drop down or Ctrl 1, Format Cells

Once again apply a format continue to type the text, apply/change formats as you go

Here is another quick demo:

What Formats are available

There are many Text formats that are available:

Bold – Ctrl B

Underline – Ctrl U

Double Underline – Ctrl 1 menu

Italic – Ctrl I

Font Color – Color Picker or Ctrl 1 menu

Font Size – Font Size Picker or Ctrl 1 menu

Super Script – Ctrl 1 menu

Sub Script – Ctrl 1 menu

Strikethrough – Ctrl 1 menu

Alt Enter – Add a second Line of text

Uses

There are many times where the use of in-cell text formatting is required

• Highlighting Individual Characters or Words
• Adding Footnote and other references
• Writing Chemical Formulas
• Writing Mathematical Formulas

Limitations

There are a few limitations to what and when in-cell formatting can be applied

• The limitations of these techniques is that it cannot be applied to characters of a cell where the cell is a formula
• The formats can’t be applied selectively by Conditional Formatting
• The Cells background color applies to the whole cell and cannot be changed for part of the cell or on a character by Character basis
• The Copy Cell Format tool does not copy in-cell text formats 🙁

Uses

When have you used in-cell text formats to great effect ?

Let us know in the comments below.