How to Indent in Microsoft Excel

When you read written words, you’re quite used to seeing paragraphs begin with indented text. This signifies a line break, and sometimes suggests a subset in values or data. But did you know that you can also indent in Microsoft Excel? You can, and it’s very easy. Let’s learn how to indent in Microsoft Excel.

How to Indent in Excel

When you’re typing online or in a word processing app, you’re likely used to using the Tab key to indent text or other values. But if you hit Tab in Excel, you’ll simply jump to the next adjacent cell. But this doesn’t mean you can’t indent values in Excel. You only need to use a different set of controls!

Imagine you have a cell containing the word Demo, and you want to indent it so it sits removed from the left edge of the cell. However, you don’t want to go as far as centering it in the cell. Indenting is the right choice here.

To indent in Microsoft Excel, begin by clicking into the cell containing the text or other values that you wish to indent. Then, find the Home tab. This is located on Excel’s ribbon up at the top of your screen. The Indent controls are found in the Alignment group, just to the right of the Font section.

You have two options: Increase Indent and Decrease Indent. With your cell selected, simply click either button to control the indentation of the text inside.

Notice that if you click Increase Indent enough times, Excel will begin moving your data into adjacent cells.

As you can see, Excel makes it easy to indent text, numbers, and other values. By changing up the spacing and indenting your cell content, you can easily call attention to specific values, thanks to the eye-catching factor delivered by indenting.