How to Change & Restore Default Row Height in Excel

In many cases, we need to change the default row height in Excel. Again, we may need to recover the previous default row height. In this article, I’ll discuss the basics of default row height in Excel as well as the way of changing and recovering it with proper explanation.

What is Default Row Height in Excel?

While using Excel 365, I found the default row height is 15 when the font is Calibri and the font size is 11. Though it may vary because it largely depends on DPI (dots per inch) scaling.

In fact, the row height is dependent on the font size. So, the row height will change on the basis of enlarging or shrinking the font size.

Look closely at the following screenshot which depicts the default row height if the font size is 11.

How to Change & Restore Excel Default Row Height: 4 Suitable Methods

Let’s see how you can change the default row height and also recover that efficiently.

1. Changing Default Row Height

You may have a dataset where wrapping text and expanding the row height is necessary for every worksheet. In such a situation, changing the row height for all worksheets will be a tedious task.

How would you feel if you could change the default row height?

Unfortunately, there is no specific tool for changing the default size within a second.

However, we can utilize two certain methods to change the default row height.

1.1. Changing Default Row Height by Altering the Font Size

Surely, we can assign a particular row height for the whole workbook. Before doing that let’s have a look at the following table.

Now, let’s change the default row height. The row height starts at 0 and ends at 409. Moreover, the value of the row height is not an integer value. Because every pixel increases 0.75 to the row height.

⇰ Go to File > Options.

⇰ Then change the font size based on your required row height. You may go through the above table again to determine the font size. As I want to get the row height is 20 (actually 19.50), I fix the size 15 as shown in the below figure.

⇰ If you do that, you will see the following command from Excel. That means you need to restart Excel.

⇰ When you open a new worksheet, you’ll find that the row height is 19.50.

From now, the changed default row height of Excel will work whatever the number of worksheets or workbooks.

1.2. Changing Default Row Height Using the Row Height Option

If you want to change the default row height quickly, you may use the following simple method.

⇰ Firstly select the entire worksheet or dataset (the keyboard shortcut is CTRL + A). When you select any cell of your dataset and press the shortcut, the whole dataset will be selected. Likewise, you can select the entire worksheet by selecting a blank cell within the worksheet.

⇰ Next, click on the Format option from the Cells ribbon in the Home tab.

⇰ Then choose the Row Height option from the Format option.

⇰ Alternatively, after selecting the worksheet or dataset, right-click and choose the Row Height option.

⇰ Now fix the row height as 20.

⇰ Immediately, you’ll get the following output where the row height is 19.50 because the value of row height will be either 20.25 or 19.50.

Now, you may save the worksheet as an Excel template and use them frequently with the default row height.

More importantly, if you want to explore further methods to change the row height, you may visit the How to Change the Row Height article.

2. Making the Default Row Height Locked

Furthermore, if you want to lock the default row height so that anyone ever you yourself cannot resize the row height before unlocking the worksheet. Let’s see the process.

⇰ In the first place, select the whole dataset and right-click and choose the Format Cells option.

⇰ Go to the Protection tab and check the box before the Locked option.

⇰ Subsequently, click on the Protect Sheet from the Review tab.

⇰ Meanwhile, you’ll see the following dialog box and check the box before the Format Cells, and press OK.

⇰ Now, the row height of your worksheet is protected and you cannot change the row height.

⇰ For example, if you right-click on the row number, you’ll see the Row Height option is not working.

3. What If the Default Row Height is Zero

Let’s explore an interesting thing.

Sometimes, you might see the following worksheet, especially if you download any workbook, where no data is seen.

It is because the default row height of the sheet is 0.

Whatever, you can solve the problem using the Row Height option in the following way.

⇰ Firstly, pick the Row Height option from the Format option

⇰ Secondly, input the desired value of row height in the blank space after the Row Height:

⇰ Then the dataset will be seen as illustrated in the following picture.

In this way, you can also increase row height in Excel. For example, if you want to increase height from 15 to 20, just open the Row Height dialog box, type 20 in place of 15, and press OK.

Read More: How to Auto Adjust Row Height in Excel

4. Recovering Default Height of Row 

Assuming that you have a dataset where the row height is different and you need to restore the default row height. So, we can restore the default row height in two ways.

4.1. Using the Row Height Option

Though the usage of the Row Height option is discussed earlier. For your convenience, I am showing the usage again.

⇰ Just select the dataset.

⇰ Click on the Row Height option from the Format option.

⇰ Now, input the row height as 15 and press OK. This way, you can recover the default row height.

4.2. Recovering Default Row Height Using VBA

More importantly, you may use the VBA code to recover the default row height.

⇰ Firstly, open a module by clicking Developer > Visual Basic.

⇰ Secondly, go to Insert > Module.

⇰ Then copy the following code into the newly created module.

Sub Recovering_Default_Row_Height()
    Dim hRow As Worksheet
    Set hRow = Worksheets("Recovering_VBA")
    With hRow
        .Cells.UseStandardHeight = True
    End With
End Sub

In the above code, I declared hRow as Worksheet and assigned the Worksheets function to indicate the working sheet (the name of the sheet is “Recovering_VBA”) where I want to recover the default row height. Later, I used Cells.UseStandardHeight to restore the default row height as the UseStandardHeight returns True when the row height becomes equal to the default row height.

Next, run the code (the keyboard shortcut is F5 or Fn + F5), you’ll get the following output.

Read More: How to Copy Multiple Row Height in Excel

Download Practice Workbook

Conclusion

In short, you may change the default row height and also restore the height easily using the above methods. Hence, I hope that the article might be highly beneficial for you. However, if you have any queries and suggestions, share them below in the comments section.

Related Articles

• Auto Row Height Not Working in Excel
• How to Adjust Row Height to Fit Text in Excel
• Row Height Units in Excel: How to Change?

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