I have a column that I want to be 23 pixels wide with "wrap text" off (even
though the cells will contain project status comments - a large amount of
text).

In previous versions of Excel this was not a problem. I could format the
cell appropriately, enter my text (including several alt-enter line breaks)
and the cell would retain the desired format.

In Excel 2003 SP2 the behavior changed. Now, when I enter text that contains
alt-enter line breaks, "wrap text" gets automatically turned on and the row
height gets automatically adjusted - leaving me with a very tall cell (more
than can be displayed on one screen) with 1 or 2 character displayed per
line. Every time I update the comments in the cell I have to reset "wrap
text" to off and resize the row height.

How can I disable this new behavior? It makes it nearly impossible for me to
continue using a spreadsheet I have used for a very long time.

I duplicated what you described in Excel 2003, but also in 2002 so I'm not
sure that Excel has really changed. Anyway, to 'lock in' a row height, so
that row heights do not expand after editing a cell all you have to do is
slightly change row height manually, like from 12.75 to 13.

--
Jim
"jab" wrote in message
...
|I have a column that I want to be 23 pixels wide with "wrap text" off (even
| though the cells will contain project status comments - a large amount of
| text).
|
| In previous versions of Excel this was not a problem. I could format the
| cell appropriately, enter my text (including several alt-enter line
breaks)
| and the cell would retain the desired format.
|
| In Excel 2003 SP2 the behavior changed. Now, when I enter text that
contains
| alt-enter line breaks, "wrap text" gets automatically turned on and the
row
| height gets automatically adjusted - leaving me with a very tall cell
(more
| than can be displayed on one screen) with 1 or 2 character displayed per
| line. Every time I update the comments in the cell I have to reset "wrap
| text" to off and resize the row height.
|
| How can I disable this new behavior? It makes it nearly impossible for me
to
| continue using a spreadsheet I have used for a very long time.
|
|

I don't remember any version of excel not changing wraptext to on when I hit
alt-enter in a cell. (So I'd guess you were misremembering that portion.)

But if you adjust the rowheight manually--not autofitting, then the rowheight
should stay the same--no matter what you type in.

That's the way it continues to work for me in xl2003 SP2.

jab wrote:

I have a column that I want to be 23 pixels wide with "wrap text" off (even
though the cells will contain project status comments - a large amount of
text).

In previous versions of Excel this was not a problem. I could format the
cell appropriately, enter my text (including several alt-enter line breaks)
and the cell would retain the desired format.

In Excel 2003 SP2 the behavior changed. Now, when I enter text that contains
alt-enter line breaks, "wrap text" gets automatically turned on and the row
height gets automatically adjusted - leaving me with a very tall cell (more
than can be displayed on one screen) with 1 or 2 character displayed per
line. Every time I update the comments in the cell I have to reset "wrap
text" to off and resize the row height.

How can I disable this new behavior? It makes it nearly impossible for me to
continue using a spreadsheet I have used for a very long time.

--

Dave Peterson