Excel New Line in Cell: Easy Ways to Insert Line Breaks

Have you ever tried pressing Enter in an Excel cell, expecting a new line, only to have the cursor jump to the cell below instead? Unlike Word or Google Docs, Excel treats Enter as a way to move, not to break, lines.

But there are plenty of real-world situations where you do want multiple lines in a single cell: writing an address, stacking names, formatting labels, or just organizing long notes for clarity.

In this guide, I’ll walk through the simplest ways to insert a new line in an Excel cell. I’ll also cover what works best on Windows, Mac, and the web version of Excel, so you’re never stuck.

How to Start a New Line in Excel Manually

Need to stack text inside a cell like an address, a label, or a multiline note? Excel lets you do that, but not the way you might expect. Pressing Enter usually jumps to the next cell. If you want to add a line break inside a cell, here’s how to do it on each platform.

Windows shortcut: Alt + Enter

On Windows, adding a line break is simple:

1. Double-click the cell or press F2 to enter edit mode.
2. Move your cursor to the desired location for the new line.
3. Press Alt + Enter.

This inserts a line feed (ASCII character 10), which Excel interprets as a line break.

One important thing: Wrap Text must be enabled, or the line break won't show.

• Home tab → Format group → Wrap Text

Mac shortcut: control-based combos

On macOS, the shortcut varies slightly depending on your version of Excel. Try the following:

• Control + Option + Return – works on most versions
• Control + Command + Return – alternative shortcut
• Option + Return – supported on Excel 365 and later

Just as on Windows, ensure you're editing within the cell, and that Wrap Text is enabled.

Excel online & mobile

Things get trickier on Excel Online and mobile versions. These platforms often don’t support Excel keyboard shortcuts for line breaks, especially when using touch screens. Here’s what you can do:

• On tablets or Chromebooks with keyboards, try Option + Enter or Alt + Enter
• On iOS/Android, tap into the formula bar, then press Return if the keyboard shows it.
• If all else fails, copy a line break (e.g., from Notes or Word) and paste it into the Excel cell. Don’t forget to enable Wrap Text here as well, or the line break will remain hidden.

Insert Line Breaks with Formulas

So you've got data in multiple cells, and you want to combine it into one, with each value on a new line within the same cell. You can do that in Excel using formulas. There are no clicking or shortcuts, just pure formula magic. Let's examine two simple yet powerful ways to achieve this.

Using CHAR(10) in a concatenated formula

The classic method uses CHAR(10), which represents a line break (line feed) in Excel.

Say you have a first name in A2 and a last name in B2, and you want them on separate lines in one cell. Try this:

=A2 & CHAR(10) & B2

This stacks the values, with the first name on the first line and the last name below it. Simple!

Heads up again: You must enable Wrap Text on the cell for Excel to display the break. Home → Wrap Text. I highlighted the button in the screenshot above.

Also, you may also need to increase the row height to see both lines manually.

Want to get fancier? You can add labels too:

="Name: " & A2 & CHAR(10) & "Email: " & B2

Perfect for creating mini contact cards or labels directly within your spreadsheet.

Using TEXTJOIN()

If you’re using Excel 365 or Excel 2019+, you’ve got a slicker option: TEXTJOIN(). It’s made for cases like this—combining a range of values with a delimiter.

Here’s how you do a line break between values in A2:C2:

=TEXTJOIN(CHAR(10), TRUE, A2:C2)

• The first argument is the delimiter: CHAR(10) (line break)

• The second says to ignore empty cells (TRUE)

• The third is the range of cells you want to join.

And yes, you still need Wrap Text turned on for this to display correctly.

On macOS, some formula contexts might require CHAR(13) (carriage return) instead of CHAR(10)—especially in older Excel builds. If your line breaks aren’t showing, try swapping it out:

=TEXTJOIN(CHAR(13), TRUE, A2:C2)

Find and Replace with Line Breaks

Need to break up text across multiple cells fast? You may have a list of comma-separated values and want each item on its own line within the same cell. You don't have to rewrite anything manually, Find and Replace has your back.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Select the cells you want to clean up
2. Press Ctrl+H to open the Find and Replace dialog.
3. In the Find what box, type a comma or whatever character you want to replace
4. In the Replace with box, press Ctrl + J
5. Yes, Ctrl + J doesn't appear to do anything, but it inserts a hidden line break (ASCII character 10). You won't see anything in the box, but trust that it's there.
6. Click Replace All

And just like that, your values will now stack into multiple lines inside each cell.

This method is a lifesaver when you're:

• Cleaning up CSV dumps
• Formatting long lists for easier reading
• Converting delimiters (commas, semicolons, pipes) into clean line breaks

Tips and Troubleshooting

You've added line breaks, used shortcuts, and dropped in a formula, but the results aren't showing up the way you expected. Here are a few things to check before you assume Excel is broken. 

1. Make sure Wrap Text is on

This one’s easy to miss: Excel won’t display line breaks unless' Wrap Text' is enabled on the cell.

Even if the break is present (via shortcut, formula, or Find & Replace), it'll all appear as one continuous line unless wrapping is enabled.

•  Go to Home → Wrap Text (in the alignment group

2. Adjust column width and row height

Line breaks aren’t magic—they don’t auto-resize your cell to fit. If your text is spilling over or still looks crammed, it’s probably because your row height is too small or your column is too narrow.

• Drag the row edge to expand height.
• Or use AutoFit: right-click → Row Height → set it manually or double-click to auto-resize

3. Multiple line breaks? Expect extra space

If you hit Alt + Enter more than once between words or values, Excel will respect that and add extra vertical space. It's not quite the same as double-spacing in Word, but it works similarly. Just don't go overboard, or your cell will look stretched.

4. Adding line breaks in custom formats

A common question is whether you can insert line breaks using number or date formatting in Excel. The short answer is: not really. Excel’s custom formatting options don’t support visible line breaks—so even tricks like using @, &, CHAR(10), or including quoted text like "More" won’t create a multiline display. While the & operator can combine text across lines in formulas, it doesn’t work within the custom formatting dialog.

Here is a workaround: Use formulas like = "Label: " & A2 & CHAR(10) & "Value: " & B2 instead, and apply Wrap Text to display them correctly. 

Practical Examples and Use Cases

Let’s bring this home with some real examples where inserting line breaks inside a single Excel cell makes everything clearer, cleaner, and way more readable.

Mailing Labels

Do you need to format mailing information inside a single cell for printing or exporting? Line breaks make it easy to stack the name, street, and city—like this:

John Smith  
123 Maple Avenue  
Lagos, NG

Here’s the formula if your data is in A2, B2, and C2:

=A2 & CHAR(10) & B2 & CHAR(10) & C2

Stacking full names

Sometimes, you want two or more names displayed in the same cell but on separate lines for clarity. Example:

SMITH John  
SMITH Linda

If names are in A2 and B2, use:

=A2 & CHAR(10) & B2

Great for guest lists, registries, or even event badges.

Combining multiple items

Do you have a list of addresses, phone numbers, or bullet points you want in one cell? Just line-break them in.

You can either write this manually using Alt + Enter or dynamically using the following formula:

="• " & A2 & CHAR(10) & "• " & B2 & CHAR(10) & "• " & C2

Common Errors and Fixes

Even when you do everything right, Excel can still be finicky with line breaks. Here are a few common issues to watch out for, along with their solutions.

1. CHAR(10) Isn’t Showing a Line Break?

If you’ve used CHAR(10) in a formula and nothing happens 99% of the time, it's because Wrap Text isn’t turned on. Excel stores the break—but doesn’t show it unless wrapping is enabled.

Here is the fix: Select the cell(s), go to the Home tab, and click Wrap Text.

2. Mac Users Seeing Weird Results?

On macOS, Excel sometimes interprets line breaks differently. CHAR(10) (line feed) usually works, but in some formula contexts—especially when importing or copying—you may need to try CHAR(13) (carriage return) instead.

Also, shortcut keys can vary. If Control+Option+Return doesn’t work, try Option+Return or Control+Command+Return.

3. Running Excel in a Virtual Environment?

If you're using Excel through a virtual desktop setup, such as Citrix, keyboard behavior can become unusual. Shortcuts like Alt+Enter may not register properly.

Here are the fixes:

• Use Excel's formula-based methods (such as CHAR(10)) instead of relying on keyboard shortcuts.
• Check if your Citrix session is intercepting key commands.

Key Points to Remember

Here’s a quick recap of what you’ve learned:

• Shortcut keys vary by platform: Windows uses Alt+Enter, while Mac uses a combination of Control+Option+Return, Option+Return, and others.

• Wrap Text is essential: Without it, line breaks won't appear, regardless of how you insert them.

• Formulas make it dynamic: Use CHAR(10) inside & or TEXTJOIN() for flexible multiline values.

• Find & Replace saves time: Replace characters like commas with Ctrl+J to apply breaks across multiple cells.

Conclusion

I hope you found this article helpful! Just remember: Wrap Text is non-negotiable. This is going to be the number one thing that will trip you up or confuse you. If you find yourself fighting Excel to make your data look the way it should, take our Excel Fundamentals skill track today. It will give you all the essential skills you need for your personal life and your work.