Merge Cells in Excel in 5 Minutes or Much less

Figuring out the ins and outs of Excel is important for organizing knowledge, understanding analytics, and getting essentially the most out of your advertising and marketing efforts. The instrument is nice for shortly processing huge quantities of knowledge, however it may be overwhelming for those who do not spend the vast majority of your workday whipping up spreadsheets.

Happily, a couple of primary abilities are all it’s good to put collectively an easy-to-read spreadsheet. One is realizing methods to merge cells in Excel. Whether or not you are planning weblog articles for the upcoming quarter, creating an e mail checklist for a focused marketing campaign, or designing Search engine optimisation-friendly Google advertisements, merging cells is a useful technique to manage your info.

To sharpen your abilities, 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.

Methods to Merge Two Cells in Excel

Merging is a technique 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 methods 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: Below the Dwelling tab, click on the ‘Merge’ icon and select ‘Merge Cells’.

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Step 3: That is it! You have merged the cells.

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Observe: When combining cells, solely the information within the higher left cell is saved. Be sure that to avoid wasting the knowledge from the opposite cell so it isn’t misplaced. In the event you occur to have knowledge 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 information? 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.

Methods to Merge and Middle Cells in Excel

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

Step 1: Spotlight the cells you need to merge.

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

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Step 3: Your cells will merge and the information shall be centered inside the cell.

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Methods to Merge Cells in Excel Shortcut

Clicking the proper ‘Merge’ perform again and again generally is a drag if it’s good to mix quite a lot of cells. For quick merging, begin by highlighting the cells you need to merge. Then, kind the next key combos.

Excel Shortcuts for Home windows

1. Merge Cells: ALT H+M+M
2. Merge & Middle: 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 it’s a must to arrange your personal shortcut to merge cells.

1. In Excel, click on ‘Instruments’ below the navigation bar.
2. Choose ‘Customise Keyboard.’
3. A pop-up will seem. Below 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 below ‘Press new keyboard shortcut.’ Kind 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 further shortcuts for Merge Throughout, Merge & Middle, or Unmerge.

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Methods to Merge A number of Cells in Excel

You already know the fundamentals, however now you need to get artistic and merge greater than two cells. Relying in your desired spreadsheet structure, you should use the Merge Throughout, Merge Cells, or Merge & Middle perform.

1. Merge Throughout

This feature is used to merge cells inside a single row. You’ll be able to’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 could 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 maintain the desk neat.

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

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

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Step 3: The cells merge throughout your complete highlighted space.

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2. Merge & Middle

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

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3. Merge Cells

The ‘Merge Cells’ perform is good to mix a number of adjoining cells throughout rows and columns. It really works identical to the ‘Merge & Middle’ perform, besides the information shall be left-aligned as a substitute of centered after merging.

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Methods to Merge Cells in Excel With out Shedding Knowledge

Wish to merge cells with out dropping info from all however the higher left cell? Simple. You should utilize the ampersand (&) or the CONCATENATE perform to mix knowledge 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 knowledge. Be sure that that is separate from the cells you are merging.

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

Step 3: Kind & and use ” ” to depart an area between cell knowledge.

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

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

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CONCATENATE or CONCAT

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

The system in Excel is =CONCATENATE (text1,text2,…). Text1 is the primary cell to merge and generally is a textual content worth, quantity, or cell reference. Text2 is the subsequent merchandise to hitch. For this perform, you possibly can merge as much as 255 objects or 8,192 characters.

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

Step 2: Within the system bar, kind =CONCATENATE(

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Step 3: A system 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 knowledge, you need to embrace ,” “, inside the system. [i.e. =CONCATENATE(D5,” “,E5)]

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

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Why Cannot I Merge Cells in Excel?

Quite a bit can go unsuitable in case your system or formatting is not arrange appropriately. 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 shall be shaded out for those who’re in the midst of making modifications. 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 wish to merge.

1. Verify if one of many cells is a part of an Excel desk. Tables have a novel format that do not enable merging. You’ll be able to let you know’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 have the ability to make any modifications or merge cells.

Methods to Unmerge Cells

Perhaps you bought a bit of excited making an attempt out your new abilities 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. Below the Dwelling tab, click on the ‘Merge’ icon and select ‘Unmerge Cells.’
3. Your cells will return to the unique formatting, however you should 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 information pop up.

Excel Shortcuts Make Life Simpler

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

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