Are you wondering how to make cells bigger in Excel? Then, you must read this article until the end and follow along with all the methods shown.

The default size of a cell in the worksheet of Microsoft Excel is 20 pixels in row height and 64 pixels in column width. This surface area of a cell can show up to 8 characters if you type alphabets or numerals. If this isn’t enough to display a text or number in a cell, you can increase the row height and column width as much as you want.

However, the default method to resize Excel cells is buried deep into the Excel ribbon menu. There are some secret methods but using those requires previous experience.

If you’re new to Excel or haven’t ever used this feature, I’m showing below how can you use the default method as well as other tricks to resize cells conveniently.

Manually Resizing Rows and Columns

If your dataset is small, this manual method is the go-to option.

Navigate to the worksheet where you need to make cells bigger.

To increase the row height, click the bottom border of the row number and drag it down until the content of the cell shows up completely.

To change the column width, like increasing its pixels, click on the right-side border of the column text border and drag the cursor to the right until you’ve increased the size as per requirement.

Manual resizing helps you to save worksheet space without reducing readability.

AutoFit Row Height and Column Width

Excel has two features named AutoFit Column Width and AutoFit Row Height to help you make cells bigger provided that the contents of the cells would also require more space to become completely visible. Using these two features and a secret mouse movement, you can quickly change the cell size.

So, access your dataset where you need to resize a cell’s surface area.

Locate the cell and double-click on the bottom border of the row text, like row 2, to increase cell height automatically which matches the height of the cell contents.

To increase the column width for the cell, double-click on the right-side border of the column header text, like column A.

If you increase the cell height in a row, you’ll increase the row height for all the cells in that row. Similarly, if you increase column height, the action would take effect on all the cells of the column.

If you want to make all the cells of the worksheet bigger automatically by matching their cell contents, click the Select All icon in the top-left corner of the worksheet. It’s to the left of the column header number A. The icon is in the cross-section where the row number and column number intersect.

Now, double-click the right-side border of any column and the bottom border of any row to resize all the cells in the spreadsheet.

Make Cells Bigger Using the Format Tool

If you want to make cells bigger by a specific row height and column width, you can use the Format tool in the Home tab’s Cells commands block.

For example, you’d like to resize the cells of column A in the above dataset to a row height of 27 and column width of 60.

Firstly, highlight all the cells that you want to resize.

Navigate to the Cells commands block in the Home tab. Then, click the Format drop-down menu and choose the Row Height option.

Enter the desired row height in the given field, like 27. Click OK to apply the row height.

Similarly, expand the Format tool again and click on the Column Height option.

Put the desired column height in the dialog box that pops up and hit Enter to apply the new size.

If you wish to use keyboard shortcuts, you can press Alt + H + O + H to bring up the Row Height dialog and Alt + H + O + I to bring up the Column Width field.

Make Cells Bigger Using the Merge & Center Tool

If certain text string or number is overflowing from the cell, you can use the Merge & Center tool to make the cell bigger. You can also select a few surrounding cells to include the area of those cells into the merged cell.

Select the cells you want to merge as shown on the above image.

Now, click the Merge & Center command in the Alignment block of the Home tab.

Excel shall resize the cell instantly.

Make Cells Bigger for the Whole Worksheet

Click on the Select All button in the worksheet to highlight all the cells of the spreadsheet.

Go to the Cells commands block and click the Format tool to expand its menu.

Click on the Row Height option to enter the desired row height for the whole worksheet. Click OK to apply the setting.

Similarly, click on the Column Width option and enter the desired value. Click OK.

Excel shall resize the whole worksheet according to the values you’ve entered before.

Make Cells Bigger Using Excel VBA

If you often need to increase cell surface area for readability and consistency, you must try this Excel VBA-based method. Using this method, you can make cells bigger in the active worksheet programmatically. The VBA macro shall show you input boxes with adequate instructions so that you don’t need to waste time in trial and error.

Here’s the script you can use:

Sub ResizeCells()
    Dim TargetRange As Range
    Dim RowHeight As Double
    Dim ColumnWidth As Double

    ' Show an input box to select the target cell or cell range
    On Error Resume Next
    Set TargetRange = Application.InputBox("Select the target cell or cell range", Type:=8)
    On Error GoTo 0

    ' If no range is selected, exit the subroutine
    If TargetRange Is Nothing Then
        MsgBox "No range selected. Exiting..."
        Exit Sub
    End If

    ' Show another input box to enter the desired row height
    RowHeight = Application.InputBox("Enter the desired row height for the cell or cell range", Type:=1)

    ' Show another input box to enter the desired column width
    ColumnWidth = Application.InputBox("Enter the desired column width for the cell or cell range", Type:=1)

    ' Apply the row height and column width to the selected range
    TargetRange.RowHeight = RowHeight
    TargetRange.ColumnWidth = ColumnWidth

    MsgBox "Cell size updated successfully!"
End Sub

If you’re new to Excel VBA or don’t know how to create a macro using a VBA script, go through the following tutorial:

📒 Read More: How To Use The VBA Code You Find Online

After setting up the macro, press Alt + F8 to bring up the macro dialog. There, select the ResizeCells macro and hit Run to execute the macro.

Firstly, you shall see an input box. Use the prompt to select the target cell range in the worksheet.

Secodnly, there will be another input box through which you can enter the desired row height.

Finally, a third prompt shall ask you to enter the value for the column width.

Excel shall instantly make the adjustments when you enter the necessary values in the macro prompts.

Note that the row height is represented in points. 1 point equals approximately 1/72 inch, 0.035 cm, or 1.333 pixels.

On the other hand, the column width is measured in characters based on the default font size. For example, a column width of 45 means that 45 characters of the standard font size can fit in the cell.

Also, Excel has limits on the maximum row height (409 points) and column width (255 characters). If you enter a value beyond these limits, Excel shall adjust it to the maximum allowable value.

Make Cells Bigger Using Office Scripts

Another automation option that you can use to automatically increase the cell size is the Office Scripts feature.

Click the Automate tab and click on the New Script option inside the Scripting Tools block.

The Code Editor console shall open. There, copy and paste the following Office Script:

function main(workbook: ExcelScript.Workbook) {
    // Get the current worksheet
    let worksheet = workbook.getActiveWorksheet();

    // Get the current selected range
    let selectedRange = workbook.getSelectedRange();

    // Get the address of the selected range
    let rangeAddress = selectedRange.getAddress();

    // Get the range of cells to autofit
    let rangeToAutofit = worksheet.getRange(rangeAddress);

    // Autofit the columns and rows
    rangeToAutofit.getFormat().autofitColumns();
    rangeToAutofit.getFormat().autofitRows();
}

Click the Save script button to save the Office Script for future use.

Now, highlight the cell range for which you want to increase row height and column width.

Hit the Run button to execute the script.

Excel shall automatically fit the cell surface area so that the contents of the highlighted range become clearly visible.

Conclusions

So far, you’ve learned different methods to make cells bigger in Excel. The techniques involve both manual and automated methods so you can choose the right method for you depending on your worksheet scenario and expertise.

If you frequently need to resize cells in Excel and the dataset is huge, you you can give the Excel VBA and Office Scripts method a try for better experience.

Comment below if the article helped you. If you know a better method to make cells bigger in Excel, you can mention that in your comment.