How to Split Cells Diagonally in Excel? 2 Easy Ways
(Note: This guide on how to split cells diagonally in Excel is suitable for all Excel versions including Office 365)
When creating a table on paper, it is easy to make partitions and split cells diagonally to denote headings. But, did you know that you can split cells diagonally in Microsoft Excel, too?
In this article, I will tell you how to split a cell diagonally in 2 easy ways.
You’ll Learn:
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What Is Splitting a Cell Diagonally?
When you enter any text in Excel, it populates the cell based on the cell formatting and alignment.
When you create tables and enter content, the basic formatting does not provide any partition. The headings that are common to both the rows and columns are not partitioned.
Let me explain it in a better way. Consider an example, where an Excel worksheet contains a table consisting of the number of students who have studied in each class for 5 years (2018-2022).
Even though this table is neat, the table feels a little incomplete. The headings in the rows and columns are lacking cues. It’d be better if cell A3 contains cues for headings like “Class” and “Year”.
But, it’d also feel odd if you just type in the text with the line break, or split the text by using a comma or hyphen.
In these cases, splitting a cell diagonally will enable you to add multiple texts for horizontal and vertical headers. This will greatly improve the readability and give a more professional look to your table.
How to Split Cells Diagonally in Excel?
Now that we know what splitting a cell diagonally in Excel is and its importance, let us now see how to split cells diagonally in Excel.
Using Diagonal Borders
This is one method to split a cell diagonally in Excel. This method adds a diagonal line in the cell which makes the cell look like it’s split in two.
- To split a cell diagonally, first, choose a destination cell.
- Navigate to Home. Under the Font or Alignment section, click on the small extension icon which opens the Format Cells dialog box.
- There is another way to arrive at the Format Cells dialog box. Right-click on the destination cell and click on Format Cells.
- This opens the Format Cells dialog box
- Navigate to the Border tab in the Format Cells dialog box.
- Under the Border section, click on the diagonal line you want to add to the cell (left to right diagonal or right to left diagonal). In this case, let us select the left to right diagonal.
- You can adjust the thickness, style, and color of the line under the Line section.
- You can also see the preview in the dialog box.
- If you are satisfied with it, click OK.
- This splits the cell diagonally into two halves.
Now, let us enter the text.
- Double-click on the cell to enter the edit mode. You can also enter the edit mode by selecting the cell and pressing the function key F2.
- Enter the text to which you want to add cues to the header separated by a line break. In this case, let us add the text “Class” first.
- Then add a line break by pressing Alt+Enter.
- Finally, enter the text “Year”.
- Add the necessary spaces before the first header and add additional formatting to the headings. Bold or highlight the cells and adjust the row width if necessary.
- Now, we have successfully split the cell and the headings look more presentable.
Also Read:
How to Count Cells with Text in Excel? 3 Different Use Cases
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How to Unmerge Cells in Excel? 3 Best Methods
Using Shapes
There is a less common method to split cells diagonally in Excel by using shapes.
- First, select the cell you want to split.
- Navigate to Insert. Click on the dropdown from Illustrations.
- Under Shapes, select the Right-Angled triangle.
- Now, draw the shape in the designated cell. Hold the ALT key while drawing the triangles. This helps snap the shape within the borders of the cell.
- To add additional customizations to the shape, you can use the Shape Format. You can change the color, fill, border, and outline of the shape from the Shape Format option.
Now, let us get to typing the text.
- Navigate to the Shape Format option. Under the Insert Shapes section, click on Text Box.
- With the Text Box cursor enabled, draw the text box in the shape.
- After drawing to the desired width, type in the text.
- The text now looks odd with a white background. To remove that, right-click on the text box and select Format Shape.
- In the Format Shape pane, select Shape Options. Under Fill, select No Fill and under Line, select No Line.
- In the Text Options, you can change the color of the text and add effects.
- In the same way, add another shape in the opposite diagonal based on your preferences.
- Or, you can enter the edit mode in the cell box. Type in the text and use the top and right alignment to align the text. To change the color of the cell, select the cell and click on Fill Color in the Home tab.
Also Read:
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Frequently Asked Questions
How do I split cells diagonally with two colors in Excel?
You can split the cells diagonally by navigating to the Format Cells dialog box and selecting the diagonal border in the Border section. Then, you can navigate to the Fill section and select the color or gradient of your choice.
How do I use shapes to split cells diagonally in Excel?
Navigate to Insert. Click on the dropdown from Illustrations > Shapes > Basic Shapes and select the right-angled triangle. Draw the shape in the cell by holding the ALT key and add color if you want. In the same way, do it for the other half of the cell. Now, use the text box to write the text. Remove the background by right-clicking and selecting Format Shape and selecting No Line and No Fill options, respectively.
How to split multiple cells or merged cells diagonally in Excel?
First, select the cells you want to split. If you want to split merged cells, first select the separate cells and click on Merge. Then, you can use either the diagonal borders in the Format Cells option or use shapes to split the cells diagonally.
Closing Thoughts
Splitting cells diagonally in Excel helps add cues to the headings and enhances the presentability of the data.
In this article, we saw how to split cells diagonally in Excel in 2 easy ways. You can either use the Format Cells option or use Shapes to split cells diagonally depending on your choice.
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Simon Calder
Chris “Simon” Calder was working as a Project Manager in IT for one of Los Angeles’ most prestigious cultural institutions, LACMA.He taught himself to use Microsoft Project from a giant textbook and hated every moment of it. Online learning was in its infancy then, but he spotted an opportunity and made an online MS Project course - the rest, as they say, is history!
