Formatting a single cell

D

Dave

I am trying to enter data, such as name, street address, city, for example
in a single cell, each item to appear on a single line, hopefully indexed
to, again for example, the left.

After formatting the cell to wrap text, you can do this by typing each line
item with a number of spaces between each item. The number of spaces is
just a matter of trial and error. Again, this works, but becomes cumbersome
when you have a larger number of cells. Obviously, the easy (maybe best)
way to do this is just to enter each item in a separate cell, and adjust the
related/adjacent cells accordingly. But I thought I would ask the experts.

I have played with the various Format/Alignment options, both vertical and
horizontal, but haven't gotten them to work either.

Any and all suggestions would be appreciated.

Dave
 
D

Dave Peterson

First, you can use alt-enter to force a new line in a cell.

Second, don't do it!

Keep your data as granular as possible. Put each field in a different column.

You can combine different cells into a giant cell with a formula like:

=a1&char(10)&b1&char(10)&c1
and turn wrap text on.
(char(10) is the same as alt-enter)

But even better, you can use MSWord to print labels (kind of sounds like that's
what you may want to do).

Here are a couple of links:
http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/mailmerg.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/MailMerge

The first is from David McRitchie and the second is by Beth Melton and Dave
Rado.
 
D

Dave

OK, thank you for that - I think I'm beginning to see the light - which of
course is step one towards screwing the whole thing up :<).

Actually, I am not printing labels, and don't have to break down any such
entries subsequently. I'm just trying to format a membership list for
reprinting - as an Excel document. No im/exporting req'd.

With that in mind, it would seem the alt-enter move would not be a problem.

Dave
 
C

Carlos Antenna

Some people just refuse to be helped.

In a couple of months he will be asking how to parse the text into columns.
 
D

Dave Peterson

Once you have the data, you may find you have more uses for it.

You never know.

Someday, you may want to get a list sorted by town/state/zip code.
OK, thank you for that - I think I'm beginning to see the light - which of
course is step one towards screwing the whole thing up :<).

Actually, I am not printing labels, and don't have to break down any such
entries subsequently. I'm just trying to format a membership list for
reprinting - as an Excel document. No im/exporting req'd.

With that in mind, it would seem the alt-enter move would not be a problem.

Dave
Click to expand...
 
D

David McRitchie

Hi Dave,
Failed to read that there were more replies, but it seems that
you still missed the point, so will still reply and add a bit more.

Dave Peterson answered in the sentence directly below where
he made that statement.

Granularity -- you want to be able to use your spreadsheet for
other purposes, such as a name and address listing, perhaps
even using a filter to limit what is seen -- filters also work nicely with
Mail Merge.

You can learn quickly about filters in some videos at
http://www.datapigtechnologies.com/ExcelMain.htm
and in more detail at
http://www.contextures.com/tiptech.html

Since you weren't really interested in Mail Merge, I will make
the suggestion that you place the phone number on the left
side of your list, last name, first name, address lines, city(or town),
State code (if US), zip code, then other things like email address,
descriptions. When printing you can print only the columns you
want to print.
---
HTH,
David McRitchie, Microsoft MVP - Excel [site changed Nov. 2001]
My Excel Pages: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/excel.htm
Search Page: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/search.htm

Dave said:
I better ask about the ". . . don't do it" comment.
Dave
Click to expand...
 
D

Dave

Lot of Daves here - and thanks to all of them -

Well, actually, I didn't miss the point. I do not want to use the piece in
question for any other purpose. I have all kinds of lists, one item per
cell, which of course can be formatted any way one wants. This particular
document was not one of those It was a one shot deal composed of much data
not amenable to other uses (legal problem) The thing was getting rather
cumbersome as I pointed out, looked bad, and I thought it was finally time
to find out from the experts the right way to format such a piece.

I appreciate the help - and thank you Daves 1 and 2. Also glad to have the
additional links.

Dave 3

David McRitchie said:
Hi Dave,
Failed to read that there were more replies, but it seems that
you still missed the point, so will still reply and add a bit more.

Dave Peterson answered in the sentence directly below where
he made that statement.

Granularity -- you want to be able to use your spreadsheet for
other purposes, such as a name and address listing, perhaps
even using a filter to limit what is seen -- filters also work nicely with
Mail Merge.

You can learn quickly about filters in some videos at
http://www.datapigtechnologies.com/ExcelMain.htm
and in more detail at
http://www.contextures.com/tiptech.html

Since you weren't really interested in Mail Merge, I will make
the suggestion that you place the phone number on the left
side of your list, last name, first name, address lines, city(or town),
State code (if US), zip code, then other things like email address,
descriptions. When printing you can print only the columns you
want to print.
Click to expand...
 
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