This is a guest post by Vijay, our in-house VBA Expert.
Suresh sent an email with interesting problem.
There is one data entry sheet where all the data needs will be entered, however once done we want the data to be stored separately in multiple sheets designated by the Employee code.
In this article we will learn how to use VBA to help in resolving the problem Suresh was facing at work.

We will do this using VBA and the below procedure illustrates how this was done.
Sub copyPasteData()
Dim strSourceSheet As String
Dim strDestinationSheet As String
Dim lastRow As Long
strSourceSheet = "Data entry"
Sheets(strSourceSheet).Visible = True
Sheets(strSourceSheet).Select
Range("C2").Select
Do While ActiveCell.Value <> ""
strDestinationSheet = ActiveCell.Value
ActiveCell.Offset(0, -2).Resize(1, ActiveCell.CurrentRegion.Columns.Count).Select
Selection.Copy
Sheets(strDestinationSheet).Visible = True
Sheets(strDestinationSheet).Select
lastRow = LastRowInOneColumn("A")
Cells(lastRow + 1, 1).Select
Selection.PasteSpecial xlPasteValues
Application.CutCopyMode = False
Sheets(strSourceSheet).Select
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 2).Select
ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
Loop
End Sub
Let’s understand the code
We start by defining 2 variables which will hold the Source and destinations sheet names, source will be one sheet only however there will be multiple destinations sheets.
A simple Do While loop is utilized to complete this data transfer from one sheet to the others.
However the most interesting line in the code is :
ActiveCell.Offset(0, -2).Resize(1, ActiveCell.CurrentRegion.Columns.Count).Select
Since we start our work on Column C in the loop, we need to ensure the data from Column A and B is also selected to be copied and pasted on the relevant sheets, this is accomplished using the above line.
Once we have selected the entire data set on the current row, we copy the same and select the relevant sheet and then paste the data as values on the same.
At the end of the code once we switch back to the Source sheet, we need to ensure that we select Column C again. The reason for that is, when we select the entire data set we activate the first column and we need to come back to column C for our loop and the rest of the code to work.
Download Excel File
Click here to download the file & save it on your system and use it to understand this technique.
More on VBA & Macros
If you want to learn more about using VBA to automate reporting & email tasks, read these:
- Automatically Generate Report Variations using Excel
- What is VBA & Macros? Introduction
- Excel VBA Example Macros
- VBA tutorial videos
Join our VBA Classes
If you want to learn how to develop applications like these and more, please consider joining our VBA Classes. It is a step-by-step program designed to teach you all concepts of VBA so that you can automate & simplify your work.














11 Responses to “Use Alt+Enter to get multiple lines in a cell [spreadcheats]”
@Chandoo:
One more useful trick.......
In a column you have no. of data in rows and need to copy in the next row from the previous row, no need to go for the previous rows but entering Alt + down arrow, you will get the list of data, (in asending order), entered in the previous rows...
This is another great tip. I use this all the time to make sense of some *very* long formulas. As soon as the formula is debugged I remove the break.
Great tip Chandoo!
I use this feature often and it has even gotten the, "how did you do that" response.
Thanks!
@Ketan: Alt+down arrow is an awesome tip. I never knew it and now I am using it everyday.
@Jorge, Tony: Agree... 🙂
[...] Day 1: Insert Line Breaks in a Cell [...]
how can we merge a two sheet.
excellent idea. Chandoo you are genious
Hi chandoo,
I have used ctrl+enter to break the cell. But I did not get the result.
Please tell me how can i break the cell in multiple lines.
Hi, Ranveer,
Its not Ctrl+enter to break the cell, use Alt+Enter to make it happen.
hi Chandoo....
how we can use Alt+Enter in multiple rows at the same time please reply hurry i have lot of work and have no time and i m stuck in this. 🙁
Alt+J worked once 🙁
So I found another more reliable way:
=SUBSTITUTE(A2,CHAR(13),"")
Where A2 is the cell that contains the line breaks which the code for it is CHAR(13). It will replace it with whatever inside the ""