Here, we’ll show you how to use these settings to display your text in Microsoft Excel to fit your preference.
How to Rotate Text at an Angle in Excel
Using an angle for your text can be visually pleasing, especially for column and row headers. You can quickly rotate the text to an angle counterclockwise or clockwise.
You’ll then see your sheet immediately update with your newly aligned text. In the screenshot below, we angled our column headers clockwise.
How to Display Text Vertically in Excel
Displaying your text vertically may not be an orientation you use often but can be useful in certain circumstances. This can be helpful if you use row headers that cover several rows. You can optionally merge the cells and then apply the alignment; we’ll show you how to do both.
Merge the cells
The text in the group of cells now resides in a single cell.
Apply the alignment
Your merged cell will then display the text or characters vertically. This places the characters below each other and can be read from top to bottom.
How to Rotate Text Up or Down in Excel
Maybe you like the vertical alignment but don’t want the characters displayed from top to bottom. You can rotate the text up or down to be read sideways. This is also helpful if you use merged cells. So follow the steps above if you’d like to merge your cells first. Then, do the following to apply the alignment.
And like the other alignment settings, you’ll see your cell(s) update with the new layout.
How to Rotate Text Using Exact Degrees in Excel
When you apply any of the above orientations to your text, you can also use an exact number of degrees. This can help you get just the right angle or spacing for the text. You can also use the following feature right from the start rather than following the previous steps if you prefer. For this example, we’re going to adjust text where we applied the Align Clockwise orientation. We want to decrease the angle slightly.
Now the angle of our text is slightly more horizontal because we changed the angle from -45 to -30 degrees.
Angle, Rotate or Display Text Your Way in Excel
No matter which way you want to angle, rotate, or turn that text in your Excel spreadsheet, these orientation options should have you covered. Note: The Orientation feature is not currently available in Excel for the Web. For more, take a look at how to wrap text in Excel or use Excel’s functions to capitalize your text or make it upper or lower case. Comment Name * Email *
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