Start a New Line in a Cell
Put the cursor where the break belongs and press Alt+Enter — Excel starts a new line inside the same cell instead of jumping to the cell below. On a Mac the shortcut is Control+Option+Return, and Google Sheets uses Ctrl+Enter (Cmd+Enter on a Mac). Alt+Enter also switches Wrap Text on for that cell without telling you, which is why the row suddenly gets taller, and why so many people take it to be the same feature as the Wrap Text button.
The formula
Alt+Enter Windows: break the line at the cursor while editing
Control+Option+Return Excel for Mac
Ctrl+Enter Google Sheets (Cmd+Enter on a Mac)
=A2&CHAR(10)&B2 build the break inside a formula — Wrap Text must be on
=SUBSTITUTE(A2,CHAR(10)," ") replace the breaks already in the data with spaces
Ctrl+J types the break character into a Find & Replace boxA worked example
B2 should show a two-line address: "42 Mill Road" on the first line, "Leeds LS1 4AA" on the second.
Type 42 Mill Road, press Alt+Enter, type Leeds LS1 4AA, press Enter
B2 shows both lines and the row grows to fit, because Alt+Enter turned Wrap Text on for the cell. The formula bar still shows one line until you expand it with Ctrl+Shift+U, and the stored value now contains a CHAR(10) character, so a VLOOKUP against the same address typed on one line will not match it.
Which one do I need?
| If you want to… | Use |
|---|---|
| Putting a break exactly where you want it | Alt+Enter while editing (Control+Option+Return on a Mac, Ctrl+Enter in Google Sheets) |
| Letting the column width decide where lines break | Home > Wrap Text — automatic reflow rather than a character you place |
| Building a multi-line value from a formula | =A2&CHAR(10)&B2, and turn Wrap Text on or the cell shows it all on one line |
| Getting rid of breaks already in the data | =SUBSTITUTE(A2,CHAR(10)," "), or Ctrl+H with Ctrl+J pressed in the Find box and a space in Replace |
| Splitting a two-line cell into two columns | Data > Text to Columns > Delimited > Other, then press Ctrl+J in the box so the break is the delimiter |
| Reading a long multi-line cell | Ctrl+Shift+U expands the formula bar so every line is visible at once |
Frequently asked questions
Why does Alt+Enter not work in Excel for Mac?
Because the Mac binding is different: Control+Option+Return inserts the break while you are editing the cell. Option+Return on its own does not do it. Google Sheets differs again, using Ctrl+Enter on Windows and Cmd+Enter on a Mac, so a shortcut learned in one of the three will not carry to the others.
Why did my line break disappear when I turned Wrap Text off?
It did not disappear — the CHAR(10) character is still in the cell, it just has nowhere to be displayed. Wrap Text is what permits a cell to show more than one line, so switching it off squashes the value onto a single visual line. Turn it back on with Home > Wrap Text and both lines reappear exactly as they were.
How do I remove every line break in a column?
Either build a clean copy with =SUBSTITUTE(A2,CHAR(10)," ") and paste it back as values, or do it in place: press Ctrl+H, click into the "Find what" box and press Ctrl+J, which types the invisible break character, put a single space in "Replace with", and choose Replace All. The Find box will look empty — that is expected.
Do line breaks break my lookups?
Yes. CHAR(10) is a real character in the stored text, so an address held on two lines and the same address typed on one are different values to VLOOKUP, XLOOKUP and any exact-match IF. Clean the key column with SUBSTITUTE before matching, or wrap the lookup value in TRIM(CLEAN(A2)) — CLEAN strips line breaks along with the other non-printable characters.
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