XL: Text Is Cut Off When Cell Uses Bottom Alignment

• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
• Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
• Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 5.0, 5.0c

SYMPTOMS

In the versions of Microsoft Excel listed at the beginning of this article, the bottom rows of text in a cell may not be visible (they are cut off), even though the cell is formatted with a vertical alignment of Bottom.

CAUSE

This problem occurs if the cell is not large enough to display all of the text it contains.

WORKAROUND

To prevent this problem from occurring, use any of the following methods to size the cell so that it can display all of the text it contains:

• Increase the column width of the cell. To do this, select the cell, click the Format menu, point to Column, and click Width. Increase the column width and click OK.
• Increase the row height of the cell. To do this, select the cell, click the Format menu, point to Row, and click Height. Increase the row height and click OK.
• Use the AutoFit feature to allow Microsoft Excel to automatically determine the correct column width or row height to use. To use AutoFit, select the cell, click the Format menu, point to Column or Row, and click AutoFit.
• Reduce the amount of text contained in the cell so that it is displayed without resizing the cell.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

In Microsoft Excel, there are a number of vertical alignments that you can apply to cells: for example, Top, Bottom, and Center.

If you format a cell to use a vertical alignment of Top, the text is aligned with the top of the cell. If the cell contains too much text, the bottom rows of text are truncated by the bottom of the cell. This is by design of Microsoft Excel and is correct behavior.

However, if you format the same cell to use a vertical alignment of Bottom, the text is not correctly aligned with the bottom of the cell if the cell contains too much text. If you increase the size of the cell or if you reduce the amount of text in the cell, the text is correctly aligned with the bottom of the cell.