Microsoft Excel is a great tool for data analysis and data segmentation. It has tablets that create a workbook. Operating systems including Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS support Microsoft Excel.
Microsoft Excel enables you to build templates for computations using current formulae. It includes formulae and graphical tools such as adding, subtracting, dividing, and constructing pivotal tables, schemes, and graphs. A sophisticated data display and analysis tool, Microsoft Excel.
You will see instances where you have to merge cells or combine cells into Excel when working in an Excel worksheet. Excel provides several ways to combine cells across lines and/or columns in Excel.
In this essay, we will discuss different ways to merge Excel cells. But before jumping into the article, let us see why merge cells in Excel.
Why Merge Cells In Excel?
The most common reason for merging cells in Excel is for formatting and for centering headings. You can not format in Excel without merging cells. Merging cells in Excel is a great option for formatting.
Now let us discuss how to merge two cells in Excel.
How To Merge And Center Cells In Excel
The Merge & Center function in Excel is a wonderful means of personalizing the layout of your Excel spreadsheet. A label spanning several columns is a fantastic approach to design it. The next example shows that the text “SALES REPORT” is in the same A1 cell. Let us solve that! Let us fix that!
- Choose the A1:F1 cells to merge.
- Go to Home > Group ‘Alignment’ > Button Merge & Center.
- The cells presently chosen are combined and their contents are centered.
Note that the 6 combined cell pointers reference A1. This is how to merge multiple cells in Excel.
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Other Merge & Center Options
A dropdown list with additional options will be displayed and each will generate a different result:
- Merge Across– This command generates many Excel merge cells — one for each row if a multi-row range is specified.
- Merge cells− Combines the cells selected and does not apply the attribute Center.
- Dissolve cells− This unites the merged cells into Excel and we will discuss this in full later.
To break down Excel cells, follow these steps:
- Choose the cells you wish to disassemble.
- Click the button Merge & Center or from the drop-down menu pick the Cells Unmerge option.
Your information is merged now. Even if the procedure of merging cells in Excel is rather straightforward, it is not strongly advised, and we describe the alternatives of merging of cells in Excel further down:
Here are a few shortcomings after a combination of cells:
- Excel features will not operate with combined cells.
- The command Excel ‘Sort’ does not operate on the ranges containing Excel fusion cells.
- You cannot pick a single column if it contains any merged cells.
- Cannot apply Excel Filters.
- Dates cannot be copied to another location easily.
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Using Center Across Selection
Use the Center Across Selection function to get the same effect as Merge & Center without the foregoing constraints. This would combine the column cells and yet allow you to manually pick each cell. Below is how the Center Across Selection should be applied:
- Select the A1:F1 cells you would like to combine.
- To start the Format Cells dialogue box, press Ctrl+1.
- Select “Center Across Selection” from the Alignment tab in the Horizontal drop-down box.
- Click OK.
You are currently fusing the selected cells.
Using The Concatenate Function To Merge Cells In Excel Mac
If you use the aforementioned settings to merge the Excel cells, the text is kept in the left-hand cell, and all other cells are removed. To avoid losing the text from the Excel merged cells, use the concatenate function, the CONCAT function, or the “&” ampersand function.
The function concatenates rapidly combines Excel’s cells. Sometimes you are dumped in Excel with data and not structured as you like. Now, when using Merge & Center, the content is removed in the second column and displayed as a mixed cell just by the First Name.
But you weren’t searching for that. This function must be bookmarked since it’s useful to clean, convert and analyze Excel data.
Whether it contains text, numbers, or both, more than two cells can merge or join together. Column A’s first name and the last name in Column B are shown on the following SALES REPORT.
This is ideal for combining ‘FIRST NAMES’ with ‘LAST NAMES,’ which are located in different columns and merged into one cell. Let’s discuss precisely what occurs when you try to utilize Merge&Center here before we go into how to merge cells in Excel. You may then click the Merge & Center option if you pick cells A3 and B3, then you will notice that you end up in an Excel-merged cell with simply the value of the upper-left cell i.e. the first name.
You should utilize the Concatenate Function in Excel to combine Excel cells without losing any data.
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Adding A Space & Line Breaks To Merge Two Cells In Excel Without Losing Data
In the FULL NAME column above, you can see that between the FIRST NAME and the LAST NAME there is no space or character. This total FULL NAME value is not a typographic error. The way to join cells in Excel with spaces is crucial. To link this information together with spaces, you must provide double quotes and space between these quotations, i.e. in the second parameter for CONCATENATE function, i.e.
The format that is modified is CONCATENATE(A3), “, B3)
A dot, comma, or any other character can replace the space. Just replace space with a character in this function and ensure that the character and text are included in double quotes. You also have the opportunity to alter the combination afterward with the Concatenate function, but if you use Merge & Center, there is no such option.
The ampersand symbol can also be used to join Excel cells. The operator acts as a CONCATENATE feature, in which text, numbers, individual cells may be combined, and so on. The same results are achieved with both CONCATENATE and &. See how Excel cells merge using the & operator.
The examples below show the same SALE REPORT but I will utilize and operating this time to combine Excel cells. The formula is = A3&” “&B3. You see that the effect is the same and that it depends on whether you are more comfortable with the ampersand sign & or the CONCATENATE feature.
The CHAR(10) function in Excel also allows you to add line breaks during the fusion of cells. In the following example, a line break from FULL NAME & SALES is added with the function CHAR(10). The formulation: [B3, CHAR(10), C3] can be used. Also ensure that you choose the option “Wrap Text” from the Home Tab, otherwise only the result on the same line is displayed.
The first line shows the FULL NAME and the second one displays SALES, which is a fantastic technique to generate Excel merged columns. These are the steps of how to excel merge cells:
- Choose Column C to add another column and click Ctrl+. Name “Full Name” in this column.
- Choose Cell C3 and type the formula: (A3, B3). Enter click to merge columns in Excel.
- Duplicate cell C3 and add it to the rest of the cells, or drag the pack handle to the other cells below.
This is how to merge vertical cells in Excel.
Bonus Approach To Merge Cells In A Table In Excel
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Flash Fill To Merge Cells In Excel And Keep Data
Lastly, with Excel with Flash Fill, there is a bonus method to combine cells. The easiest approach to merge cells in Excel is probably around 2013 or later. Flash fill is a unique tool for analyzing the pattern of the existing cells and extracting the data to the pattern you define. FIRST NAME and LAST NAME to combine cells in Excel.
- By entering the FULL NAME in cell C2, you should define a pattern.
- Highlight the remaining cell and press the shortcut to the Ctrl+E keyboard or go to the ribbon menu.
- Excel will feel your pattern in C2 and fill the empty cells below and merge the FIRST NAME with the LAST NAME. If your data does not look like the Flash Fill, ensure that it is enabled.
In Tools > Options > Advanced > Edit Options > Check for the “Automatically Flash Fill” box to activate Flash Fill.
Excel’s Flash Fill is a flexible tool for merging, splitting or cleaning data. To perceive the patterns, you must write in the first Excel entry, then the rest of the data will be filled in depending on the design to merge two columns in Excel.
Merge Cells In Excel For Advance Formatting
Once the concatenation operator and the Excel auto concatenation function have seen things you can accomplish, it becomes obvious that combining cells is not only straightforward but also highly powerful. To get acclimated to it, it takes a little practice. We hope this article helped you in answering how to merge cells in Excel.