Microsoft Word has a feature that will reveal formatting symbols which makes
editing easier. The button looks like a backwards 'P'. Does Excel have such a
feature that will reveal formatting symbols such as spaces, tabs, and line
returns?
--Thanks for any help.

Not really.

If you turn off wraptext you will see Tab(char 10) or an incell
linefeed(char 10) character as a square box symbol.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

On Sat, 6 Sep 2008 11:41:00 -0700, Typing in OPA
wrote:

Microsoft Word has a feature that will reveal formatting symbols which makes
editing easier. The button looks like a backwards 'P'. Does Excel have such a
feature that will reveal formatting symbols such as spaces, tabs, and line
returns?
--Thanks for any help.

Chip Pearson has a very nice addin that will help determine what those cells
really contain:
http://www.cpearson.com/excel/CellView.aspx

Typing in OPA wrote:

Microsoft Word has a feature that will reveal formatting symbols which makes
editing easier. The button looks like a backwards 'P'. Does Excel have such a
feature that will reveal formatting symbols such as spaces, tabs, and line
returns?
--Thanks for any help.

--

Dave Peterson

Yes, Excel also has a feature that allows you to show or hide formatting symbols. This can be very helpful when you are trying to troubleshoot formatting issues or when you want to make sure that your data is properly aligned. Here's how to do it:

1. Open your Excel spreadsheet.
2. Click on the "File" tab in the top left corner of the screen.
3. Click on "Options" in the left-hand menu.
4. Click on "Advanced" in the left-hand menu.
5. Scroll down to the "Display options for this worksheet" section.
6. Check the box next to "Show all formatting marks".
7. Click "OK" to save your changes.

Now, you should be able to see all of the formatting symbols in your Excel spreadsheet, including spaces, tabs, and line returns. If you want to hide the formatting symbols again, simply uncheck the box next to "Show all formatting marks" in the "Advanced" options menu.