HOW TO USE WRAP TEXT IN GOOGLE SHEETS?

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

There are many small requirements which we face while using Google Sheets.

One of such utility is WRAP TEXT which helps us to fit all the text in one cell.

“WRAP TEXT IN GOOGLE SHEETS IS THE PROCESS OF WRAPPING (folding or compacting) THE TEXT TO MAKE IT VISIBLE IN A SINGLE CELL”.

WRAP; as the word has literal mean of folding things up and the option is available in many other applications like notepad, is similar in the case of GOOGLE SHEETS too.

In this article, we’ll learn the way to wrap text in Google Sheets.

WHERE TO FIND WRAP TEXT BUTTON IN GOOGLE SHEETS?

WRAP TEXT option can be found on the DEFAULT TOOLBAR as shown in the picture below.

We have three options under WRAP TEXT such as OVERFLOW, CLIP and simple WRAP. We’ll discuss them in detail.

BUTTON LOCATION FOR WRAP TEXT IN GOOGLE SHEETS

WRAP TEXT option is also found under the DATA MENU> TEXT WRAP.

Choose the WRAPPING AS REQUIRED.

BUTTON LOCATION FOR WRAP TEXT IN GOOGLE SHEETS IN MENU

WHEN TO USE WRAP TEXT IN GOOGLE SHEETS ?

In GOOGLE SHEETS, if you type a long text in a cell and it has filled the visible area of the cell, it’ll start overlapping over the content of the other cell, and when you click the other cell the text of the first cell will be hidden.

(The situation is shown in the picture below).

PROBLEMATIC TEXT WITHOUT WRAPPING

Think of a situation when you want your text to be clearly visible all the time.

So we use this function WRAP TEXT for that particular situation.

DIFFERENT OPTIONS FOR WRAP TEXT IN GOOGLE SHEETS ?

GOOGLE SHEETS three different options for Wrapping Text in the way you want.

These are-

  1. OVERFLOW
  2. WRAP
  3. CLIP

OVERFLOW WRAP TEXT OPTION:

This is the default setting of every cell.

If we type in any cell and it overflows, Google Sheets would show it completely.

The example is shown below. [ But mind it, it is just placed in the cell where it starts, only visual is overlapping; nothing else ]

OVERFLOW WRAP TEXT

WRAP:


THIS IS THE STANDARD WRAP TEXT WHICH WE KNOW.

ALL THE TEXT IS WRAPPED UP IN THE SAME CELL.

The width of the cell is adjusted to accommodate all the text in the same cell.

WRAP TEXT IN GOOGLE SHEETS

CLIP WRAP TEXT OPTION:

This option clips the overflowing portion of the text visually.

[ Only the text is not shown visually, no change in the original text ].

This option can be used when we don’t want any change in the size of the cells because if we use the WRAP FUNCTION, it removes the uniformity of the cells to wrap the text as per the individual requirement of each cell.

CLIP WRAP TEXT IN GOOGLE SHEETS

EXAMPLE OF WRAP TEXT IN GOOGLE SHEETS

The following picture shows the issue when we don’t use wrap text.

We can see that both of the cells are not showing the complete text.

The complete text is ” Welcome to Gyankosh” But the cell is showing only the portion-“Welcome TO”, “GYANKOSH.NET”  is hidden and “THIS IS OTHER” is shown as it is in the next cell.

Lets apply different wrap text options and check the results.

STEPS TO WRAP TEXT IN GOOGLE SHEETS

  • Select the cell/cells where the WRAP TEXT needs to be applied.
  • CLICK on the button OVERFLOW, WRAP, OR CLIP WRAP TEXT directly from the toolbar or by going through the DATA MENU> TEXT WRAP> OVERFLOW/ WRAP /CLIP as per the requirement of the report.
  • The result is visible as shown in the picture.
  • The complete text is shown in the cell by increasing the height of the row in Wrap, by clipping the extra portion in clip and by overflowing through other cells in OVERFLOW setting.

WRAPPED TEXT

After applying WRAP TEXT , all the content is fully visible. This demo shows the use of wrap text.

ALWAYS REMEMBER…

1.Sometimes without using Wrap Text also, we can see the text, condition being , that no text is present in the adjacent cell. But that is very unsafe way of forcing the text to be visible. So its always advisable to use Wrap Text if text is long and you need it to be in one cell only.
2.After applying wrap text, the size of cell may misbehave, you have to adjust it afterwards. So its advisable to apply the WRAP TEXT in the starting only so that you can see how the cell is behaving rather than applying it at the end.