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Does anyone know how to make it so that Word Wrap is OFF by default in Google Spreadsheets?

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2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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There is not, at this writing, a global setting that would automatically affect all new spreadsheets that you create.

To turn off word wrap on any sheet, select all the cells of the sheet and select the "Wrap text" option from the toolbar:

Wrap text option on the Docs toolbar circled

Once all cells have word wrap turned off, it will also be true that new rows and columns will have word wrap turned off, because they take their formats from their neighbors.

However, when you cut and paste a range (or drag-move a range), the empty cells left behind revert to the default format. For this reason, I do not cut and paste. Instead I copy and paste, then reselect the original range and backspace or delete to blank values. This leaves the format intact.

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    Note that the "word wrap" option is not under any menu - it's only in the toolbar.
    – Erel Segal-Halevi
    Commented Jul 15, 2012 at 8:31
  • There's only 3 options for this Wrap text button: "Overflow" "Wrap" and "Clip". There's no "Disable" option :(
    – Hlung
    Commented Feb 25, 2019 at 7:41
  • @Hlung What would it do?
    – MetaEd
    Commented Feb 27, 2019 at 20:18
  • Any idea how this can be done in 2024? The button was apparently removed from the tool bar.
    – kostrykin
    Commented Jun 4 at 8:08
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    @kostrykin The button is on the toolbar. The icon has changed a little. If you are sure you are not getting the button, bear in mind that you may need to make your browser window bigger make every toolbar button visible. Or, if you can't make the browser window bigger, any buttons which don't fit are still accessible using a dropdown by touching the ⋮ (more) button.
    – MetaEd
    Commented Jun 11 at 22:42
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As noted above, there is currently no way to change the defaults for this or, apparently, other features like font or font size.

@erel-segal-halevi: Text wrapping is (now) on the Format menu, not just in the menu bar.

Quick key combination to update your entire spreadsheet to Wrap Text:

Ctrl-a Alt-o then w then down-arrow

Select all; Open Text Wrap Submenu; Select Wrap Text (from overflow - the default)

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    Please note that "above" has no context here. Answers can be sorted a number of ways and, even if left at the default sort, the order can change as votes accumulate on answers. Better to provide a link to the answer to which you are referring.
    – ale
    Commented Jun 5, 2018 at 16:19

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