Merge Cells in Excel in 5 Minutes or Less

Understanding the ins and outs of Excel is important for organizing information, understanding analytics, and getting probably the most out of your advertising and marketing efforts. The device is nice for rapidly processing huge quantities of knowledge, however it may be overwhelming when you do not spend the vast majority of your workday whipping up spreadsheets.

Thankfully, a number of primary expertise are all that you must put collectively an easy-to-read spreadsheet. One is understanding the best way to merge cells in Excel. Whether or not you are planning weblog articles for the upcoming quarter, creating an e-mail listing for a focused marketing campaign, or designing Search engine optimization-friendly Google advertisements, merging cells is a useful strategy to arrange your info.

To sharpen your expertise, we’ll cowl a number of methods to mix cells.

Do not need to begin from scratch? Use these free Excel templates as a basis to your personal advertising and marketing spreadsheets.

The way to Merge Two Cells in Excel

Merging is a strategy to flip two small cells into one new, massive cell. That is helpful for organizing info and creating headers, with out the necessity to resize particular person cells. This is the best way to do it.

Step 1: Spotlight the 2 adjoining cells you need to merge (I am merging A1 and B1 within the instance).

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Step 2: Beneath the Dwelling tab, click on the ‘Merge’ icon and select ‘Merge Cells’.

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Step 3: That is it! You’ve got merged the cells.

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Observe: When combining cells, solely the info within the higher left cell is saved. Make sure that to avoid wasting the knowledge from the opposite cell so it isn’t misplaced. In the event you occur to have information in each A1 and B1, Excel will not merely wipe it. This alert will pop up:

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Do not need to delete the info? Click on ‘Cancel,’ and replica/paste the knowledge right into a separate doc or cell earlier than merging. In the event you solely want the knowledge within the upper-left cell, click on ‘OK’ to merge the cells.

The way to Merge and Heart Cells in Excel

Say you are constructing a advertising and marketing report and need your titles to be centered above your information. Merge and middle cells by following these steps.

Step 1: Spotlight the cells you need to merge.

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Step 2: Beneath the Dwelling tab, click on the ‘Merge’ icon and select ‘Merge & Heart.’

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Step 3: Your cells will merge and the info can be centered throughout the cell.

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The way to Merge Cells in Excel Shortcut

Clicking the proper ‘Merge’ operate again and again could be a drag if that you must mix loads of cells. For quick merging, begin by highlighting the cells you need to merge. Then, sort the next key combos.

Excel Shortcuts for Home windows

1. Merge Cells: ALT H+M+M
2. Merge & Heart: ALT H+M+C
3. Merge Throughout: ALT H+M+A
4. Unmerge Cells: ALT H+M+U

Excel Shortcuts for OS

The Apple working system does not have an ALT key, so you need to arrange your individual shortcut to merge cells.

1. In Excel, click on ‘Instruments’ beneath the navigation bar.
2. Choose ‘Customise Keyboard.’
3. A pop-up will seem. Beneath the header ‘Specify a Command’ there are two columns: Classes and Instructions. For Classes, choose ‘Dwelling Tab.’ For Instructions, choose ‘Merge Cells.’
4. Choose the textual content field beneath ‘Press new keyboard shortcut.’ Sort the important thing mixture to your shortcut. For instance: CONTROL+M.
5. Click on ‘OK’ to set your shortcut.
6. Now you can use CONTROL+M to merge cells in Excel.
7. Arrange extra shortcuts for Merge Throughout, Merge & Heart, or Unmerge.

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The way to Merge A number of Cells in Excel

You recognize the fundamentals, however now you need to get inventive and merge greater than two cells. Relying in your desired spreadsheet format, you should use the Merge Throughout, Merge Cells, or Merge & Heart operate.

1. Merge Throughout

This feature is used to merge cells inside a single row. You possibly can’t use ‘Merge Throughout’ to mix cells inside a column or throughout a number of rows.

On this instance, I am establishing PPC advertisements and need to see my description copy in row 17. If I merely resize column F, my desk may have an excessive amount of house between column F and G. Merging a number of cells throughout row 17 lets me see the copy and preserve the desk neat.

Step 1: Spotlight all of the cells you need to merge throughout the row.

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Step 2: Beneath the Dwelling tab, click on the ‘Merge’ icon and select ‘Merge Throughout.’

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Step 3: The cells merge throughout the whole highlighted space.

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2. Merge & Heart

You possibly can merge and middle a number of cells throughout rows and down columns. Simply bear in mind the info within the upper-left cell is the one info that may keep as soon as merged. Within the instance under, I exploit ‘Merge & Heart’ to mix rows 15, 16, and 17 with columns F, G, and H.

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3. Merge Cells

The ‘Merge Cells’ operate is right to mix a number of adjoining cells throughout rows and columns. It really works identical to the ‘Merge & Heart’ operate, besides the info can be left-aligned as a substitute of centered after merging.

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The way to Merge Cells in Excel With out Dropping Information

Need to merge cells with out shedding info from all however the higher left cell? Simple. You should utilize the ampersand (&) or the CONCATENATE operate to mix information from two or extra cells.

Within the instance under, I am creating copy for Instagram and need to mix the caption with its corresponding hyperlink.

Ampersand

Step 1: Select the cell the place you need to put the merged information. Make sure that that is separate from the cells you are merging.

Step 2: Sort = within the clean cell and choose the primary cell to mix.

Step 3: Sort & and use ” ” to go away an area between cell information.

Step 4: Sort & once more earlier than selecting the subsequent cell. Repeat for all of the cells you need to mix. An instance components is =D5&” “&E5.

Step 5: Hit Enter. Within the instance, you may see how the textual content from cells D5 and E5 merged into F5.

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CONCATENATE or CONCAT

The CONCATENATE operate (or CONCAT) is one other strategy to mix two or extra textual content strings collectively.

The components in Excel is =CONCATENATE (text1,text2,…). Text1 is the primary cell to merge and could be a textual content worth, quantity, or cell reference. Text2 is the subsequent merchandise to hitch. For this operate, you may merge as much as 255 gadgets or 8,192 characters.

Step 1: Spotlight a brand new clean cell the place you need to merge the info.

Step 2: Within the components bar, sort =CONCATENATE(

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Step 3: A components builder will pop up, permitting you to decide on Text1, Text2, and so forth. Choose the cells you need to merge, so as from first to final. To incorporate areas between the cell information, you need to embody ,” “, throughout the components. [i.e. =CONCATENATE(D5,” “,E5)]

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Step 4: Hit Enter. The information out of your chosen cells can be mixed within the CONCATENATE cell.

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Why Cannot I Merge Cells in Excel?

Quite a bit can go mistaken in case your components or formatting is not arrange accurately. In the event you’re struggling to merge cells, strive these troubleshooting suggestions.

1. Make sure you’re not actively modifying a cell you need to merge. The ‘Merge’ icon can be shaded out when you’re in the midst of making adjustments. To repair this, merely hit ‘Enter’ to cease modifying or click on onto one other cell earlier than clicking again to the cell you’d prefer to merge.

1. Test if one of many cells is a part of an Excel desk. Tables have a singular format that do not permit merging. You possibly can inform you’re on a Desk if the ‘Chart Design’ or ‘Format’ tabs throughout the highest of your workbook are highlighted in inexperienced and the ‘Merge’ icon is shaded out.

1. Have a look at the sharing permissions of the Excel workbook. If it isn’t shared with you or is protected, you will not be capable to make any adjustments or merge cells.

The way to Unmerge Cells

Perhaps you bought a bit excited attempting out your new expertise and merged one cell too many. Do not panic. Merely unmerge your cells by following these steps.

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1. Spotlight the cells you need to unmerge.
2. Beneath the Dwelling tab, click on the ‘Merge’ icon and select ‘Unmerge Cells.’
3. Your cells will return to the unique formatting, however you’ll have misplaced the knowledge from earlier than the merge.
4. In the event you want that info, click on ‘Command’ + Z (OS) or ‘CTRL’ +Z (Home windows) to undo your actions till you see the info pop up.

Excel Shortcuts Make Life Simpler

Whereas utilizing spreadsheets can really feel intimidating at first, with the ideas and shortcuts above, you will have it down very quickly. 

Editor’s notice: This text was initially revealed in Might 2021 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.