Indenting Cell Contents

Summary: You can align information in a cell in just about any manner you can imagine. This tip explains how you can indent cell contents from either the left or the right side of the cell. (This tip works with Microsoft Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, and Excel 2003.)

Excel allows you to format the contents of a cell in a myriad of ways. One of the formatting options you can apply is to indent the contents of a cell by a certain amount. This is similar to indenting done in a Word processor, such as Word, except that the indenting is specified in a number of characters, not in a linear distance such as inches or points.

To set the indent to be used in a cell, follow these steps:

Select the cells you want to format.
Choose Cells from the Format menu. Excel displays the Format Cells dialog box.
Make sure the Alignment tab is selected. (Click here to see a related figure.)
In the Horizontal drop-down list, choose Left (Indent). If you are using Excel 2002 or 2003, you can also choose Right (Indent).
Using the Indent control, specify the number of characters by which the cell contents should be indented from either the left or right side of the cell. You can pick any whole number between 0 and 15.
Click on OK.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2948) applies to Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

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Indenting Cell Contents