First we’ll explore the options you may have already tried. Don’t do anything This makes the text in your long column overlap the text in any of the other columns, making the other columns unusable. Move the long column all the way to the right so that at least you can read the other columns. If you need to add data from other spreadsheets, you’ll have to re-order those columns before copying and pasting, which is annoying. Set column to “wrap text” Now you can see text in the other columns, but your wrapped text makes your column tall, sometimes absurdly so, and it’ll be hard to scan the rest of your data. Hide the column Now you can’t see the data, and you may not remember it’s there. Or others who have to use the spreadsheet may not know to look for hidden columns. Make the text teeny tiny in the column This lets you read it if you squint, but it makes your spreadsheet look silly.
There’s a better way
- Select the entire range of cells (usually the whole column that has a lot of text).
- Get to the “Alignment” dialog by right-clicking and choosing “Format cells” near the bottom of the menu and choosing the “Alignment” tab, second from the left. (Or click the little “expand” box at the bottom right corner of the “Alignment” group in your ribbon).
- Under “Text alignment,” look for the menu under “Horizontal.” Scroll down and choose “Fill.” This will display the part of the text that fits in the column without overflowing or wrapping. The “Fill” option is hard to find because it’s only accessible in the “Alignment” dialog and not in the regular “alignment” box in the ribbon, so you may have never run across it.
