Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Indenting Cell Contents.
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 Microsoft 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:
Figure 1. The Alignment tab of the Format Cells dialog box.
Note in step 4 that you can choose either a left or right indent if you are using Excel 2002 or Excel 2003. You cannot, however, indent from both the left and right, like you can with a word processor. You can only choose to indent from the left or the right.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2948) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Indenting Cell Contents.
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2017-07-21 14:50:27
corey
it appears that excel's "1" integer width is actually 4 characters. Is there a way to change the "1" integer width to actually 1 character?
2015-11-01 08:51:58
Ioan Buda
Hi,
I need to decrease the space between text and the border of the cell.
Thank you,
Ioan.
PS Thank you also for the other information shared !
Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: 
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