How to Remove Carriage Returns in Excel: 3 Easy Ways

Method 1 – Delete Carriage Returns Using Find and Replace

Steps:

  • Select the cells containing line breaks.

Delete Carriage Returns Using Find and Replace

  • Press Ctrl+H from the keyboard. The Find and Replace window will pop up. Go to Find what field and press Ctrl+J. A dot (.) will show up in the box. Keep Replace with field blank. Click the Replace All

Delete Carriage Returns Using Find and Replace

  • All the line breaks will be removed.

Use of Find and Replace

Read More: How to Insert Carriage Return in Excel Cell


Method 2 – Use Excel Functions to Remove Carriage Returns

Steps:

  • Enter the following formula in a blank cell:
=SUBSTITUTE(B5,CHAR(10),", ")
Use Excel Functions to Remove Carriage Returns

The SUBSTITUTE function replaces existing text with new text in a text string.  However, the CHAR function returns the character specified by the code number from the character set for your computer.

Here, the formula removes line breaks of Cell B5 and replaces those breaks with commas. On the other hand, Char(10) function returns a line break character.

  • You will get the following result. Use Autofill (+) to copy the formula to other cells.

Use of Functions

Read More: Remove Carriage Return in Excel with Text to Columns


Method 3 – Erase Carriage Returns Using VBA in Excel

If you do not want to use manual ways or formulas to remove line breaks, using VBA can be an excellent option. The following sample dataset will be used for illustration.

Erase Carriage Returns Using VBA

Steps:

  • Go to the sheet containing the dataset and open the code window by clicking the View Code.

Erase Carriage Returns Using VBA

  • Enter the following code to the code window.
Option Explicit
Sub RemoveCarriageReturns()

Dim MyRange As Range
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Application.Calculation = xlCalculationManual
For Each MyRange In ActiveSheet.UsedRange
If 0 < InStr(MyRange, Chr(10)) Then
MyRange = Replace(MyRange, Chr(10), "")
End If
Next
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
Application.Calculation = xlCalculationAutomatic

End Sub

Erase Carriage Returns Using VBA

  • Run the code. You will notice that the line breaks are removed in the dataset.

Use of VBA Code

Read More: How to Find Carriage Return in Excel


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Hosne Ara
Hosne Ara

Hosne Ara is a materials and metallurgical engineer who loves exploring Excel and VBA programming. To her, programming is like a time-saving superhero for dealing with data, files, and the internet. She's skilled in Rhino3D, Maxsurf C++, MS Office, AutoCAD, and Excel & VBA, going beyond the basics. With a B. Sc. in Materials and Metallurgical Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, she's shifted gears and now works as a content developer. In this role, she... Read Full Bio

2 Comments
  1. This post was incredibly helpful! I always struggled with carriage returns in my spreadsheets, but the methods you shared are super easy to follow. I especially appreciated the keyboard shortcut tip—it saved me so much time. Thanks for sharing!

    • Hello,

      You are most welcome. Thanks for your appreciation. Glad to hear that our tutorial helped you to remove carriage returns. Keep learning Excel with ExcelDemy!

      Regards
      ExcelDemy

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