Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated April 6, 2019)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365
James has some data in a worksheet that is contained in a series of rows. One of the columns in the data includes cells that have multiple lines per cell. (The data in the cell was separated into lines by pressing Alt+Enter between items.) James would like to split this data into multiple rows. For instance, if there were three lines of data in a single cell in the row, then the data in that cell should be split out into three rows.
Excel provides a handy way to split data into separate columns using the Text to Columns tool. This can be used to split the data based on the presence of the ASCII 10 character, which is what Excel inserts when you press Alt+Enter. The problem is that while this successfully splits the data into separate columns, it doesn't get it into separate rows, like James requested.
That means that the solution to this problem must include the use of a macro. One approach is shown in the following code. In this example, the macro assumes that you want to "expand" everything in the worksheet, and that the data in the worksheet starts in row 1.
Sub CellSplitter() Dim Temp As Variant Dim CText As String Dim J As Integer Dim K As Integer Dim L As Integer Dim iColumn As Integer Dim lNumCols As Long Dim lNumRows As Long iColumn = 4 Set wksSource = ActiveSheet Set wksNew = Worksheets.Add iTargetRow = 0 With wksSource lNumCols = Cells(1,Columns.Count).End(xlToLeft).Column lNumRows = Cells(Rows.Count,1).End(xlUp).Row For J = 1 To lNumRows CText = .Cells(J, iColumn).Value Temp = Split(CText, Chr(10)) For K = 0 To UBound(Temp) iTargetRow = iTargetRow + 1 For L = 1 to lNumCols If L <> iColumn Then wksNew.Cells(iTargetRow, L) _ = .Cells(J, L) Else wksNew.Cells(iTargetRow, L) _ = Temp(K) End If Next L Next K Next J End With End Sub
Note that in order to run the macro, you will need to specify, using the iColumn variable, the column that contains the cells to be split apart. As written here, the macro splits apart info in the fourth column. In addition, the split-apart versions of the cells are stored in a new worksheet, so that the original worksheet is not affected at all.
Note:
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (9396) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Splitting Information into Rows.
Save Time and Supercharge Excel! Automate virtually any routine task and save yourself hours, days, maybe even weeks. Then, learn how to make Excel do things you thought were simply impossible! Mastering advanced Excel macros has never been easier. Check out Excel 2010 VBA and Macros today!
There are many different ways you may need to enter data in a worksheet. For instance, you might want to enter data in ...
Discover MoreNeed a quick memory jog when entering a worksheet function? Here's a shortcut that will be invaluable.
Discover MoreUnder the right circumstances, you may notice problems when copying dates from one workbook to another. This tip explains ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2020-07-30 09:28:53
Thanks for the try, but your code doesn't work. I'm running it on Excel 16 for MAC. Let me know if you ever get it running.
Cheers.
2020-01-20 16:33:02
Roberto Arellano
Hi there! what about if we have two different columns with the same amount of line breaks in cells?
For example,
CELL 1 CELL2
JOSH 1001
BYRON 1002
PETER 1003
I am able to get rid of the line breaks by running the macro twice (aiming different column each time) and then replacing the columns, but wondering if there could be a solution that handles both cells on one time.
thanks!
2019-06-17 19:21:22
Ed
I had to move:
lNumCols = Cells(1, Columns.Count).End(xlToLeft).Column
lNumRows = Cells(Rows.Count, 1).End(xlUp).Row
to just after
Set wksSource = ActiveSheet
for this to work in Excel 2013.
Sub CellSplitter()
Dim Temp As Variant
Dim CText As String
Dim J As Integer
Dim K As Integer
Dim L As Integer
Dim iColumn As Integer
Dim lNumCols As Long
Dim lNumRows As Long
iColumn = 1
Set wksSource = ActiveSheet
lNumCols = Cells(1, Columns.Count).End(xlToLeft).Column
lNumRows = Cells(Rows.Count, 1).End(xlUp).Row
Set wksNew = Worksheets.Add
iTargetRow = 0
With wksSource
For J = 1 To lNumRows
CText = .Cells(J, iColumn).Value
Temp = Split(CText, Chr(10))
For K = 0 To UBound(Temp)
iTargetRow = iTargetRow + 1
For L = 1 To lNumCols
If L <> iColumn Then
wksNew.Cells(iTargetRow, L) _
= .Cells(J, L)
Else
wksNew.Cells(iTargetRow, L) _
= Temp(K)
End If
Next L
Next K
Next J
End With
End Sub
2019-04-07 11:19:00
Willy Vanhaelen
In this tip's macro not only 3 variables are not declared (wksSource, wksNew, iTargetRow) which with Option Explicit causes the macro to crash but it also does a bad job. Although the splitting is done correctly the content of each cell in the row is repeated on each row that is added by this splitting which is absolutely unnecessary and very confusing.
My version (half size) deals with it. It only uses one loop:
Sub CelSplitter()
Dim iCol As Integer
Dim J As Integer
Dim lNumRows As Long
Dim Temp As Variant
iCol = 4
ActiveSheet.Copy after:=ActiveSheet
With ActiveSheet
lNumRows = Cells(.Rows.Count, iCol).End(xlUp).Row
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
For J = lNumRows To 1 Step -1
If InStr(.Cells(J, iCol), Chr(10)) Then
Temp = Split(.Cells(J, iCol), Chr(10))
.Range(.Cells(J + 1, iCol), .Cells(J + UBound(Temp), iCol)).EntireRow.Insert
.Range(.Cells(J, iCol), .Cells(J + UBound(Temp), iCol)) = Application.Transpose(Temp)
End If
Next
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End With
End Sub
2019-04-06 07:17:06
Subodh Joshi
Split into columns (use Other = Control+J to indicate newline as separator), copy and then use 'transpose' when pasting. With 16,000 columns available, limitation will be memory considerations when copy/pasting rather than maximum number of newlines in a cell data. If needed, you can do it in 100K line chunks. Some manual work but no need for macro.
Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2023 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments