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Show full contents of cell and enhance editing in Excel

Author Sun Last modified

In Excel, it only displays part of contents or formula if there are too many characters to place in a cell which may be somewhat inconvenient for checking and editing cells. Here the advanced editor - Bigger Formula Bar, one of tools in Kutools for Excel, can display all content or entire formula of the active cell in a window, also can support directly editing in the window.


Enable this utility by clicking Kutools > Show & Hide > Bigger Formula Bar. See screenshots:

shot enhanced edit bar 1 doc arrow down shot enhanced edit bar 2

In the Bigger Formula Bar window, you can view the entire content or formula of the active cell.
shot enhanced edit bar 3

Also, you can directly edit and change cell content in the Bigger Formula Bar window, the cell content will be changed as the contents changed in window.
shot enhanced edit bar 4

Tips:

1. shot pin: While you put down this button in the window, the position of the Bigger Formula Bar window will be fixed and not be moved with selected cell.

2. shot fx : While you put down this button in the window, it displays the entire formula of active cell, otherwise, it shows the cell value that cannot be edited in the Bigger Formula Bar window. See screenshot:
shot enhanced edit bar 5 shot enhanced edit bar 6

3. shot set: Click this button, it will pop out a dialog for you to specify the working scope of the Bigger Formula Bar feature.
shot enhanced edit bar 7

If you check Specified Range checkbox, and select a range, then the Bigger Formula Bar window will pop out when you click cells in this specified range, otherwise, it will not pop out no matter which cells you click.

And you also can specify the scope (Current worksheet, Current workbook, or All workbooks) as you need.

4. In the Bigger Formula Bar, you can use these shortcuts:

  • Enter: go to next cell;
  • Ctrl + Z: undo this operation;
  • Ctrl + Enter: wrap text.

  Demo: Show full contents of cell and enhance editing in Excel


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Kutools for Excel

Kutools for Excel offers 300+ advanced features to streamline your work in Excel 2010 – 2024 and Microsoft 365. The feature above is just one of many time-saving tools included.

🌍 Supports 40+ interface languages
✅ Trusted by 500,000+ users and 80,000+ businesses worldwide
🚀 Compatible with all modern Excel versions
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