Enter in Excel: this way you get a new line in your cell

Enter in Excel works slightly differently than, for example, using enter in a Word document. You may have noticed that when you press Enter, you don’t create a new line, but Excel just selects another cell. We’ll show you how to start a new line of text in a cell in Excel.

This is how you use Enter in excel

1. Select cell
2. Start new line of text

Step 1 / Select your cell

If you want to start a new line of text in a cell, you must of course first indicate your cell. Double-click the cell to select it and place your cursor where you want to start a new line of text.

Step 2 / Start a new line of text in Excel

When you’re in the cell you want to ‘enter’, it’s time to actually start a new line of text. Do you use Windows? Then press Alt+Enter to start a new line in the same cell. For MacOS you use option+Enter or control+option+Enter.

Enter in Excel keyboard shortcuts

In the table below you can find the shortcut keys to start a new line of text in the same cell in Excel. This is often referred to as ‘Entering’ in the vernacular.