Excel: Turn Off Wrap Text in Pasted Data

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Problem: I regularly paste information from Web pages, and I am frustrated by the way Excel wraps text in cells. Below, , column A is not wide enough for the date, and column B is wrapped so that you can see only a few rows on the screen. Using AutoFit to make the columns wider will not work when the cells have their Wrap Text property turned on.

  1. Data pasted from the Web often has Wrap Text turned on.

    Strategy: Follow these steps to correct the Problem:

    1. Select all cells by pressing Ctrl+A. The cells in your selection will contain some cells with Wrap Text turned on and some cells with Wrap Text turned off. Click Wrap Text on the Home tab to turn on Wrap Text cell for all cells. Click Wrap Text again to turn off the property for all cells. Each row will now be a normal height, and you can see more cells, but you still need to make the columns wider.
    2. Select Home, Format dropdown, AutoFit Column Width.

  2. The pasted data now has normal formatting.