AutoFit Row Height in Excel (and why it sometimes won’t)

Wrapped text gets cut off when the row is too short. AutoFit sets the height to fit the tallest cell in the row.

Three ways

• Mouse: double-click the line under the row number.
• Ribbon: select the rows › Home › Format › AutoFit Row Height.
• Keyboard: select rows › Alt, H, O, A (press one after another).

Whole sheet: Ctrl+A first, then any of the above.

The text must be wrapped

AutoFit only makes rows taller for text that wraps. Select the cells › Home › Wrap Text. See wrap text.

Why AutoFit doesn’t work

• Merged cells. Excel ignores merged cells when fitting row height. Replace the merge with Center Across Selection (Ctrl+1 › Alignment), or set the height by hand.
• You set the height manually before. A manually set row stops auto-growing. AutoFit it once to reset.
• The cell has a line break at the end (Alt+Enter) — leaves an empty line. Delete it.
• Text longer than a row can show — max row height is 409 points.

Set an exact height

Right-click the row number › Row Height › type a number (15 is the default).

Columns instead

Double-click the border to the right of a column letter, or Alt, H, O, I. Full guide: autofit columns.