text getting cut off in cell

[Judi]

Using Excel 2003 on WinXP

I created a report card for teachers. There is a comment box which takes up
cells P2 thru T42.

PROBLEM: When a teacher types a long comment, it shows the entire comments
in the formula bar, but not in the merged cells intended for comments. The
text is cut off.

INFO: The merged cells are P2 thru T42. It is catorgorized as Text, aligned
to left & top, "wrap text" is selected, font is Times New Roman - regular -
size 8. Data validation is set for any value.

If you'd like for me to send the report card to the group or to someone
individually, please let me know. Any help is appreciated. We're stumped.

Judi

 

[Gord Dibben]

Judi

I am assuming this "comment box" is P2:T42 as one giant merged cell.

Excel Help on "limits" or "specifications" reveals that Excel will allow
32,767 characters to be entered in a cell.

However, it goes on to state that "only 1024 characters will be visible or can
be printed"

To work around this limitation, stick a few ALT + ENTERs in at appropriate
spots, about every 100 characters..

The ALT + ENTER forces a line-feed and expands the 1024 limit.

How far is not really known. Just experiment.

.........From Dave Peterson..........

I put this formula in A1:
="xxx"& REPT(REPT("asdf ",25)&CHAR(10),58)&"yyy"

And adjusted the columnwidth, rowheight and font size and I got about 7300
characters to print ok.

.........End Dave P.................

Failing that, use a Text Box to store the text or MS Word which is a word
processing application, unlike Excel which is not.


Gord Dibben Excel MVP

Using Excel 2003 on WinXP

I created a report card for teachers. There is a comment box which takes up
cells P2 thru T42.

PROBLEM: When a teacher types a long comment, it shows the entire comments
in the formula bar, but not in the merged cells intended for comments. The
text is cut off.

INFO: The merged cells are P2 thru T42. It is catorgorized as Text, aligned
to left & top, "wrap text" is selected, font is Times New Roman - regular -
size 8. Data validation is set for any value.

If you'd like for me to send the report card to the group or to someone
individually, please let me know. Any help is appreciated. We're stumped.

Judi

Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

 

[Judi]

Thought I should mention that the text is actually CUT OFF. There are not
XXXX's in the cell as if the cell is not wide enough.

Within the cell, paragraph 1 is 8 lines and all text appears.

Paragraph 2 is 6 lines and all text appears.

Paragraph 3 is cut off.

Pagraph 4 is just a short sentence.

Paragraph 5 is just a short sentence.

Paragraph 6 is cut off.

Paragraph 7 is just a short sentence.

Thanks,
Judi

 

[Dave Peterson]

If you make row 42 a little higher (manually), can you see all the text?

If not, how about adding a few alt-enters (to force a new line within the cell)
every 80 to 100 characters.

But be aware autofitting the row heights won't work with merged cells--but you
can do it manually.

 

[Judi]

We posted at nearly the same time. Hold tight and I'll try what you
suggested.

Thanks,
Judi

 

[Judi]

Gord & Dave, thanks for your help. Here is what happened in my testing:

Yes, the cell in question is one big merged cell. Imagine a report card,
landscape: left 1/3 of the page are many cells that contain subjects &
grades; center 1/3 of the page are many cells that also contain subjects &
grades, days absent, etc.; right 1/3 of the page is this big merged cell
where the teacher can make comments to the parents.

That being said, Dave, your suggestion on manually making row 42 higher
won't work as it affects the grading cells on the left & center areas.

However, I found that if an ALT+Enter is done at the end of EACH typed line,
the text does appear...all the way to the bottom of the comments box! So
thanks for that suggestion!

FYI, the reason I selected Excel for this report card template was the
ability to use data validation in so many areas. Drop-down boxes are used as
much as possible so that any computer-challenged teacher (yes, there are
many) can open the template and fill out their students' data. If you guys,
OR ANYONE ELSE READING THIS POST, think that another program would do a
better job, I'd love to chat about it and would be happy to include a copy
of the report card template for review.

Again thanks,
Judi

 

[Dave Peterson]

Glad you got it working.

I say if you can't do it in excel, it ain't worth doing <vbg>.

Excuse my "ain't".

 

[Bruce Sinclair]

Gord & Dave, thanks for your help. Here is what happened in my testing:

Yes, the cell in question is one big merged cell. Imagine a report card,
landscape: left 1/3 of the page are many cells that contain subjects &
grades; center 1/3 of the page are many cells that also contain subjects &
grades, days absent, etc.; right 1/3 of the page is this big merged cell
where the teacher can make comments to the parents.

That being said, Dave, your suggestion on manually making row 42 higher
won't work as it affects the grading cells on the left & center areas.

However, I found that if an ALT+Enter is done at the end of EACH typed line,
the text does appear...all the way to the bottom of the comments box! So
thanks for that suggestion!

FYI, the reason I selected Excel for this report card template was the
ability to use data validation in so many areas. Drop-down boxes are used as
much as possible so that any computer-challenged teacher (yes, there are
many) can open the template and fill out their students' data. If you guys,
OR ANYONE ELSE READING THIS POST, think that another program would do a
better job, I'd love to chat about it and would be happy to include a copy
of the report card template for revie

As another possibility, what about using a text box instead of cells ?
Won't work if you want to use validation on it (IIRC) ... but might
otherwise do what you want to do easily.


Bruce

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