Use a Shortcut to Indent Cells in Google Sheets (Alt + H + 6)

In this article, I will show you how to indent cells in Google Sheets with the shortcut Alt + H + 6, which mirrors the native Excel shortcut on a PC. Indentation is a good formatting best practice for any model and this article shows you how to indent in the easiest way possible in Sheets so you can keep your models well-formatted and easy to review.

Believe it or not, you CAN use Alt + H + 6 to increase indentation in Google Sheets. While this shortcut does not natively exist in Sheets, there are ways to get around this which are explored below.

Indenting in Google Sheets with a shortcut IS POSSIBLE!

Method #1: Use Custom Format Cycling with SheetWhiz

The best way to quickly indent cells in Google Sheets is to use custom format cycling in the SheetWhiz Chrome Extension. The extension has a 21 day free trial and a forever Free plan, works on both PC and Mac, and brings over many other core Excel functions over from Sheets, including insert columns & rows, borders, paste special, and trace precedents.

Below is a video tutorial of how to setup the indentation:

Too long, didn't watch? Well here's a step by step breakdown of how to do this yourself:

1. Once you've added SheetWhiz, go to any number cycle in the menu and for each Format, respectively, add the following:

   1. Format 1:@

   2. Format 2: @

   3. Format 3: @

   4. Format 4: @

2. Change the shortcut from whatever is the default to Alt (Option if on a Mac), H, 6 to reflect the Excel shortcut

3. Run the shortcut multiple times to apply Format 1, 2, 3, 4 to the cells you've selected. You should see the following:

   1. Format 1 = No indentation

   2. Format 2 = 1 indent

   3. Format 3 = 2 indent

   4. Format 4 = 3 indent

4. That's it! You've indented text in a Google Sheet

   
   

Method #2: Change Custom Number Formats Manually (Imperfect Solution)

The other way to indent in Google Sheets is to leverage the Google Sheets UI. This is imperfect because you won't be able to use Alt + H + 6 to trigger the indentation, but it works if Chrome extensions aren't really your thing.

Steps:

1. Click the Number icon button in the menu and scroll all the way down until you get to "Custom number format"

2. In the text box that pops up, add as many spaces as you want to create the indent. I usually do 3 spaces. After you've added the spaces, add the at symbol (@).

   1. Note: "At" is a text placeholder. It means "don't change the text that is entered." You can add text in front of it and it'll append to the text in the cells. Perfect for indenting but also for other use cases as well. Learn more about custom number formatting here

   
   

3. Hit "Apply" to save and apply the custom number format to the cells selected

Alternative Approaches that DO NOT Work Well

Here are some alternatives to the methods above that do not work well because they require you to modify the contents of the spreadsheet versus just adding formatting on top. These alternatives are:

1. Add an apostrophe and then spaces in front of the line item. This doesn't work well because you are changing the values of the cells. It is also very time consuming if you have to do it for every line item. If you do do this route, don't forget the apostrophe; otherwise, Google Sheets will ignore the spaces.

2. Create a "Helper Column" - i.e., another column that serves as the space for the indent. This causes problems because adding a column for every indent inherently complicates your model.

   

   
   

3. Add indentation using CHAR formula. If you use CHAR(32) which returns a space and create multiple instances of them - i.e., =CHAR(32)&CHAR(32)&CHAR(32)&A1 - you'll be able to use a formula to simulate the indentation. Unfortunately, this approach complicates the model as you'd likely need two columns: (1) the "original" column with the line items and (2) the "CHAR(32)" column which references the "original" column but adds the CHAR(32) where relevant to create the indentation.

   1. This is only useful if you want to indent a lot of lines all at once, but is not helpful if formatting a P&L where one row might be indented but the row immediate after may not but the row immediately after that may be indented again.

Conclusion

Indentation is a huge headache in Google Sheets today as a shortcut is not readily available in native Google Sheets. That said, indentation is a formatting best practice for any financial analysis as it helps highlight important line items in a forecast, making it more digestible for the viewer. We need it in Sheets which is why this article exists, to show you a practical way to apply indentation in Google Sheets.

The best way to indent in Google Sheets is to use custom number formatting as it won't mess up your Sheet with additional columns or text and is easy to apply. Use SheetWhiz and its format cycling capabilities to quickly apply custom number formats to cells in your spreadsheet.