Merge cells---Excel

IMPORTANT   Only the data in the upper-left cell of a range of selected cells will remain in the merged cell. Data in other cells of the selected range will be deleted.

1. If the data that you want to display in the merged cell is not in the upper-left cell, do the following:
1. Select the data that you want to display in the merged cell, and then click Copy  on the Standardtoolbar.
2. Select the upper-left cell of the range of adjacent cells that you want to merge, and then click Paste  on the Standard toolbar.
2. Select the cells that you want to merge.

 NOTE   The cells that you select must be adjacent.

1. On the Formatting toolbar, click Merge and Center .

The cells will be merged in a row or column, and the cell contents will be centered in the merged cell.

 NOTE   If the Merge and Center  button is unavailable, the selected cell may be in editing mode. To cancel editing mode, press ENTER.

1. To change the text alignment in the merged cell, select the cell, and then click Align Left  or Align Right  on the Formatting toolbar.

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Split merged cells

You can split only cells that were previously merged.

1. Select the merged cell.

When you select a merged cell, the Merge and Center button  also appears selected on the Formattingtoolbar.

1. To unmerge cells, click Merge and Center .

 NOTE   When the merged cell is split, the contents of the merged cell will appear in the upper-left cell of the range of split cells.

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Merge the contents of multiple cells into one cell

You can use a formula with the ampersand (&) operator to combine text from multiple cells into one cell.

1. Select the cell in which you want to combine the contents of other cells.
2. To start the formula, type =(
3. Select the first cell that contains the text that you want to combine, type &" "& (with a space between the quotation marks), and then select the next cell that contains the text that you want to combine.

To combine the contents of more than two cells, continue selecting cells, making sure to type &" "& between selections. If you don't want to add a space between combined text, type & instead of &" "&. To insert a comma, type &", "& (with a comma followed by a space between the quotation marks).

1. To finalize the formula, type )
2. To see the results of the formula, press ENTER.

Tip    You can also use the CONCATENATE function to combine text from multiple cells into one cell.

Example

The following example worksheet shows the available formulas that you can use. The example may be easier to understand if you copy it to a blank worksheet.

Copy the example to a blank worksheet

1 2 3

A B First Name Last Name Nancy Davolio Andrew Fuller Formula Description (Result) =A2&" "&B2 Combines the names above, separated by a space (Nancy Davolio) =B3&", "&A3 Combines the names above, separated by a comma (Fuller, Andrew) =CONCATENATE(A2," ",B2) Combines the names above, separated by a space (Nancy Davolio)

 NOTE   The formula inserts a space between the first and last names by using a space enclosed within quotation marks. Use quotation marks to include any literal text — text that does not change — in the result.

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Split the contents of cells across multiple cells

You cannot split a cell or range of cells that was not previously merged. You can, however, divide the contents of unmerged cells and display them across other cells.

1. Select the cell, the range of cells, or the entire column that contains the text values that you want to divide across other cells. A range can be any number of rows tall, but no more than one column wide.

 IMPORTANT   Unless there are one or more blank columns to the right of the selected column, the data to the right of the selected column will be overwritten.

1. On the Data menu, click Text to Columns.
2. Follow the instructions in the Convert Text to Columns Wizard to specify how you want to divide the text into columns.