remove unwanted line padding in cells while showing all the text

[GaryMN]

This came up before and I believe there were several approaches. This is for a simple 3-column time sheet for itemizing date, services, and billable time. 3 columns: date (about 10 wide), details (about 80 wide) and # of hours (about 10 wide). The "details" columns are the problem. In some cells, there is an extra line of spacing before and/or after the text. It looks like cell padding. And in some cells one or more of the bottom lines do not appear. Adjusting word wrap, row auto fit, column auto fit, alignment, and "number" (general, text) characteristics sends you in circles--the text in some cells will appear correct, but then in other cells there will be extra line spacing and in others the text does not all appear. Sometimes it seems the problem is also related to the printer, but changing printers does not make the problem disappear. Some problem cells show the extra line spacing while in Normal mode, while other cells appear OK but then show the extra spacing only in print preview.

Some discussions posit that this happens when you paste text from other programs. OK. But I also have this where I am making original entries in each cell. Some discussions target number of lines in the cell, but I have some cells with 2 lines of text and no line spacing before, while other 2-line cells are nice and tight.

Adjusting margins seems to create tighter middle column cells sometimes.

All help greatly appreciated.

p.s. I am using, and prefer, excel 2000 (Yes, 2000)

[sandy666]

maybe it will help:
1. Select the range that you want to remove multiple line breaks.
2. Click Home > Find & Replace > Replace or click Ctrl + F shortcuts, and a Find and Replace dialog box will pop out.
3. Then in the Find what box, please hold down the ALT key, and then click numbers 010 from the numeric keyboard*. Leave the Replace with box blank or enter a space bar.
4. And then click Replace All button, all of the line breaks will be removed

or if you've problem with numeric keyboard
3. *On the keyboard, press Ctrl + J to enter the line break character — NOTE: Nothing will appear in the Find What box


If that takes care of your original question, please click on Add Reputtion (bottom left corner of the post of the person(s) who helped you) then select Thread Tools from the menu (top right corner of your thread) and mark this thread as SOLVED. Thanks.

[GaryMN]

You can create a tighter text layout in the cell by narrowing the column width, but then you are left with a column width that is not necessarily what you want. See before and after image. I am looking for a way to control the column width and still have the text fill the cell without space at the top. The spacing is highlighted in green.
Before & After.png

[sandy666]

select all cells with text then select align to top. I don't remeber you will have this option in Ex2k (but probably - yes)

if you will attach exaple file I can say more but now all is like: maybe this, maybe that, maybe, maybe....

[zemal8]

Friends from the past!! I have been having the same problem (and that's why I found your thread), and found a workaround!

Problem: If you decrease row height to be the exact same height as your text, some of the text, either at the top or at the bottom, gets cut off in the white space that are built into the inside margins of the cells (i.e., text gets cut off before it reaches the theoretical border of the cells, resulting in white space between rows of text).

Solution: FOR SOME REASON, at least for Excel 2010 which I'm using, cells that have been subjected to Merge&Center will NOT have the text cut off; instead you will have text that goes all the way to the top and bottom border of the cells (at least when saved as PDF).

I don't know why this is the case, but I'm going to exploit this phenomenon to make super-tight lines for my insect labels. In the attached file, the label on the left is made with Merged-Centered cells, and the one on the right isn't.

I'm not sure that this is what everyone on this thread is looking for, but for me, it certainly is a good enough workaround.

Cheers!

Zemal8