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Merge Cells in Excels Merging cells in Microsoft Excel is one of the common use of it. There are reasons for merging cells one is if you want to create a title or a header on your worksheet and combine various cells into one.

But here is the thing,  if there is no need to merge the cells, don’t do it cause it might ruin and affect the entire sheet you are merging.

This blog will guide you step by step on how to maximize the merging feature of Microsoft Excel.

Steps In Merging Cells in Microsoft Excel?

This feature will remain the value in the upper-left cell but the other data in the other merged cell will be deleted. So let’s take a look at how a merging cell works.

Step 1: First open your Microsoft Excel App and open the file you want to work and merge cells with.

In the example below, you’ll see that the ‘Monthly Sales Report’ text is in cell A1
microsoft excel

Step 2: To Merge the Cell, Select Cell A1 and the Cells to be merged. Then click Merge and Center.

To merge cells in Windows Excel using the Keyboard Shortcut Key: Select the cells to be merged, and press Alt –  H – M – C continuously.
microsoft excel 2019

Note: The text is automatically set in the center, but if you wish to move it on the left or right side manually just click on the alignment tab option.

Other Merge Options

There are actually 4 merge options you can use depending on your need.

  1. Merge and Center  – combines the selected cells and centers the contents in the row.
  2. Merge Across – the selected row range combines the multiple columns of the row.
  3. Merge Cells – combines the selected cell without clicking the center button.
  4. Unmerge Cells – unmerge the merged cells

To check the options click the drop-down button on Merge & Center.

But there’s an Alternative Solution that looks like you merge the cell, but it is actually a totally separate cell, that is by using the Center Across Selection feature.

Steps To Center Across Selection Works In Merging Cell?

This has a similar effect on the option above but unlike the merged cell, this option will still refer to the cell individually. To format cells follow the steps below;

Step 1: Select the cells you want to merge by using your mouse or hold shift and press the keyboard arrows.

Step 2: Go to Alignment Tab and click the drop-down button (see image below).  For Windows Excel Shortcut Keyboard key press Ctrl + 1 (⌘ 1 for Mac).

Step 3: Once done a Pop-up window will appear, click the drop-down button on the Horizontal option and click Center Across Selection.
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Step 4: Click OK.

The selected cells are being merged but you can still select the cell separately.

Now that you’ve learned how to merge cells you must also know how to unmerge them.

Steps In Unmerging Excel Cells

Step 1: Select the merged cells that you want to unmerge.

To unmerge cells in Windows Excel using the Keyboard Shortcut Key: Select the merged cells, and press Alt –  H – M – C continuously.

Step 2: Go to Alignment Tab and Click on Merge and Center and select unmerge cells on the drop-down button.
merge excel data

Your data is now unmerged.

As mentioned above, merge only cells if necessary. Let’s see the example below what will happen if we try to merge other cells.

We will try to merge cell A4 and cell A5.

Click OK and the result is shown below.
merging data cells

Notice that when you try to merge the two cells with two different contents it will always copy the upper left value of the cell. That’s why to be careful of merging cells. If you did it accidentally, press ctrl + Z or just unmerge the cell.

Knowing the implications of merging cells might help you in managing your important data and it’s analysis.

Here are some effects once the cell is merged.

  • Excel Functions and Formulas won’t work on merged cells
  • You can’t ‘Filter’ on columns that contain the Excel merge cells.
  • Merged cell columns can’t be sorted as well
  • Dates cannot easily be copy-pasted elsewhere
  • You can’t select a single column if it contains any merged cells
  • Merged Cell Data can’t be treated as a normal data table, you can’t use all the tools that you want to use such as pivot tables and any other excel formulas.
  • You may not get the value you expected on the formula you’ve created when the cell that contains data is being merged. This is because it loses the cells columns and rows validity.

When your worksheet has too much data and you want to make a formula or use a tool to analyze your table, then suddenly an error occurs because of merging cells.  Is there any possible solution for looking and locating merge cells? How to fix them?

How to Locate Merged Cells in Excel

To answer those questions we are going to use Excel’s Find option.

Step 1: Click Find & Replace located at the upper right corner of the Excel worksheet. Click Find and Click Options. For Windows Keyboard Shortcut, press Ctrl + F (Command F for Mac) and will open the Find and Replace window.

Step 2: Click on Format and on the drop-down button click Format again.
locate merged cells

Step 3: In the find format Window, select the Alignment Tab and check Merge Cells under Text control. Click OK.
cells alignment

Step 4: Then click Find Next.

There you go, it will list all the merged cells and you can easily navigate the merged cells.

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