As you work with and read spreadsheets, you’re likely accustomed to seeing cells that contain perfectly horizontal text. This can include words, numbers, and more. But Excel actually gives you the option to customize and change the orientation of the text inside your cells! It’s a quick and easy way to add a bit of stylistic flair, and it helps you make the most of your available space. Let’s learn how to change orientation in Microsoft Excel.
How to Change Orientation in Excel
Let’s imagine that you want to list text vertically inside a cell, instead of horizontally. Or, perhaps you’re working in a table and want to angle the column headers at 45 degrees. This is often used to save space: text at an angle requires less width. This helps you pack more information into a narrower space, helpful especially if you’re printing out your file.
Fortunately, all of these adjustments and more are easy, thanks to Excel. To change orientation of text, begin by clicking into the cell that you want to work with. Then, go to the Home tab. You’ll find the Home tab on Excel’s ribbon.
Here, you have many options to format and customize the contents of your spreadsheets. In this example, you’ll want to click on the Orientation dropdown. It sits in the Alignment section, immediately to the left of the Wrap Text dropdown.
On the Orientation dropdown, you’ll see a list of options displayed. These include Angle Counterclockwise, Angle Clockwise, Vertical Text, and more. For this example, let’s click on Angle Clockwise.
Excel will instantly alter the orientation of your text. This is a great way to customize how text displays and fits together with other data.
As you can see, it’s easy to change orientation in Microsoft Excel. This helps you make the most of your space in a stylish, fun way.
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