Often in my work, I need to replace a bunch of formulas with values. Blame it on old habits, but this is what I used to do:
- Copy the cells with formulas (CTRL+C)
- Press ALT+ESV and then enter.
While this is ok, it does take quite a bit of time and key strokes.
Here is a shorter way I recently learned…
- Copy the cells with formulas (CTRL+C)
- Press menu key and then v
- Done!
You can also right click after step 1 and press v. works just the same.
What about you? How do you save time when working with Excel?
Using keyboard shortcuts is one of the best ways to save time when working with Excel. When you combine this with strong knowledge of formulas (related: top 10 formulas for analysts) you will be on your way to Excel ninja status.
What about you? what techniques you use to save time when working with Excel? Please share your tips & ideas using comments.
More on keyboard shortcuts:
If keyboard shortcuts are your thing, go thru below to pick up a few more:
- 5 keyboard shortcuts to write better formulas
- 10 keyboard shortcuts I can’t live without
- Comprehensive list of Excel keyboard shortcuts
- Do not forget mouse shortcuts!
- Game: How fast can you finish this Excel challenge with keyboard?
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 ""