Feature GuideOct 2, 20261 min read

Alt+Enter on Mac: How to Add a New Line and Wrap Text in an Excel Cell

Alt+Enter is one of the few Windows Excel shortcuts that people use without thinking — for addresses, multi-line headers and notes inside a cell. On a Mac, pressing Option+Enter sometimes works and sometimes doesn't, and ⌘Return quietly fills your whole selection with the same text. Here's what actually works, and why.

Quick answer: To start a new line inside a cell in Excel for Mac, double-click the cell (or press ⌃U), put the cursor where the break should go, and press Control+Option+Return (⌃⌥Return). To wrap long text so it fits the column, select the cells and click Home → Wrap Text, or press ⌘1 and tick Wrap text on the Alignment tab. Excel for Mac has no default Wrap Text shortcut, but you can add one in Tools → Customize Keyboard.

Line break vs wrap text: two different things

People often use the two terms interchangeably, but Excel treats them differently:

	Manual line break	Wrap Text
What it does	Forces a new line at an exact point	Lets long text flow onto as many lines as the column width needs
Windows	Alt+Enter	Alt, H, W (or Home → Wrap Text)
Mac	⌃⌥Return	Home → Wrap Text
Changes the cell's contents?	Yes — adds a line-break character	No — formatting only
Reflows when you resize the column?	No, the break stays where you put it	Yes

Use a line break when the break has a meaning, as in an address or "Revenue / (USD m)". Use Wrap Text when you just want a long sentence to stay inside a narrow column.

How to add a new line in a cell on Mac

Double-click the cell, or select it and press ⌃U to edit it. (F2 also works on keyboards where the function keys are set as standard keys; otherwise use fn+F2.)
Click or arrow to where you want the line to break.
Press Control+Option+Return.
Type the next line, then press Return to finish.

When you add a break this way, Excel turns on Wrap Text for the cell automatically, so you'll see both lines straight away.

Which key combinations work?

You'll find several different answers online, and Microsoft's own pages aren't fully consistent. Here's what each combination does in current Excel for Mac:

Keys	What happens
⌃⌥Return	New line in the cell. Every Microsoft source lists this one, so use it.
⌥Return	Also listed by Microsoft as a line break in current versions. It's worth trying, since it's the closest to Alt+Enter.
⌘Return	Not
Return	Confirms the entry and moves down a cell.

If one combination doesn't work for you, it's usually because a macOS shortcut or an accessibility tool (VoiceOver uses Control+Option) is catching it first. ⌃⌥Return typed while the cell is in edit mode is the most reliable choice.

How to wrap text in Excel for Mac

From the Ribbon

Select the cells, columns or rows.
Click Home → Wrap Text.

Click it again to turn wrapping off.

From Format Cells

Press ⌘1.
On the Alignment tab, tick Wrap text.
Press Return.

The dialog is useful when you also want to change vertical alignment. Top alignment usually reads better for wrapped text in tall rows.

Give Wrap Text its own shortcut

Excel for Mac lets you assign a shortcut to almost any Ribbon command:

Choose Tools → Customize Keyboard…
In Categories, choose the Home tab group.
In Commands, select Wrap Text.
Click in Press new keyboard shortcut and press your combination, for example ⌃⌥W.
Click Add, then OK.

If the shortcut doesn't fire, macOS or another app is probably already using it. Pick a different combination.

Keep using Alt, H, W

If you'd rather not invent new shortcuts, the Mac Excel Shortcuts app recognises the Windows sequence Alt, H, W for Wrap Text in Excel for Mac. The rest of the alignment family works too: Alt, H, A, C to centre, Alt, H, A, T to align top, and so on.

Line breaks inside formulas: CHAR(10)

To build multi-line text with a formula, such as a mailing label from separate address columns, join the parts with CHAR(10), the line-feed character:

Goal	Formula
Two cells on two lines	=A2&CHAR(10)&B2
A full address block	=TEXTJOIN(CHAR(10),TRUE,A2:D2)
Remove line breaks	=SUBSTITUTE(A2,CHAR(10)," ")
Count lines in a cell	=LEN(A2)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A2,CHAR(10),""))+1

Two things to know:

Turn on Wrap Text for the formula cells. Unlike the keyboard shortcut, a formula doesn't switch it on for you, so the result looks like one long line until you do.
Use CHAR(10), not CHAR(13). Older guides say Mac Excel needs CHAR(13). That was true for Excel 2011 and earlier. Excel 2016 for Mac and every version since uses CHAR(10), the same as Windows.

TEXTJOIN needs Excel 2019 for Mac or Microsoft 365. In Excel 2016, chain the cells with &CHAR(10)& instead.

Removing line breaks (the Ctrl+J problem)

On Windows, you remove line breaks by opening Find & Replace and typing Ctrl+J in the Find box. Excel for Mac has no reliable equivalent of that trick. The dependable approach is a formula:

In a helper column, enter =SUBSTITUTE(A2,CHAR(10)," ") and fill it down.
Copy the helper column and paste it back over the original with Paste Special → Values (⌃⌘V, then V).
Delete the helper column.

To replace the breaks with commas instead of spaces, use ", " as the last argument.

Why your row doesn't resize after wrapping

Wrapped text should make the row taller automatically. When it doesn't, the cause is almost always one of these:

The row height was set manually

Once you drag a row border, Excel stops auto-sizing that row. Fix it with Format → Row → AutoFit in the menu bar, or double-click the bottom border of the row number.

The cell is merged

Excel can't AutoFit rows that contain cells merged across several rows, and it often won't AutoFit merged cells at all. Set the row height by hand, or avoid the merge with Center Across Selection (⌘1 → Alignment → Horizontal).

Shrink to fit is turned on

Shrink to fit and Wrap text can't both be on. Shrink keeps the text on one line and makes the font smaller; wrap keeps the font and makes the row taller. If Wrap text is greyed out, untick Shrink to fit first.

Common mistakes

Pressing ⌘Return and overwriting a range

If several cells were selected, ⌘Return writes your entry into all of them. Press ⌘Z straight away to undo it, then use ⌃⌥Return for the line break.

Pasting multi-line text and getting several rows

When you paste text with line breaks into a selected cell, Excel splits it across rows. To keep it in one cell, double-click the cell first so you're in edit mode, then paste.

Wrapping a whole column of long notes

Wrapping very long text makes rows so tall the sheet becomes hard to scan. For comments and notes, try a wider column with Top alignment and wrapping, or move long text to a Note (⇧F2).

Windows equivalent

Task	Windows	Mac
New line in cell	Alt+Enter	⌃⌥Return
Fill selection with entry	Ctrl+Enter	⌘Return or ⌃Return
Wrap Text	Alt, H, W	Home → Wrap Text, ⌘1, a custom shortcut, or the Mac Excel Shortcuts app
Edit cell	F2	⌃U or fn+F2
AutoFit row height	Alt, H, O, A	Format → Row → AutoFit
Find line breaks	Ctrl+H, then Ctrl+J	Use SUBSTITUTE(…, CHAR(10), …)

FAQs

What is Alt+Enter in Excel on a Mac?

Control+Option+Return, pressed while you're editing the cell. Many current versions also accept Option+Return.

Why does Option+Enter not work in Excel for Mac?

Make sure you're in edit mode first (double-click the cell or press ⌃U), and press Return, not the Enter key on a numeric keypad. If it still fails, use Control+Option+Return.

Is there a Wrap Text shortcut in Excel for Mac?

Not by default. Create one under Tools → Customize Keyboard → Home → Wrap Text, or use ⌘1 → Alignment → Wrap text.

How do I add a line break in a formula on Mac?

Use CHAR(10), for example =A2&CHAR(10)&B2, and turn on Wrap Text for that cell.

Why do my line breaks disappear when I save as CSV?

They don't disappear. Excel wraps any cell containing a line break in quotes, and keeps the break inside them. The problem is usually the app that opens the CSV next. If another system can't handle multi-line fields, remove the breaks with SUBSTITUTE before exporting.

Related guides

Sources

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