Combine and center the contents of the chosen cells in a new, larger cell by using the merge and center command. This is an excellent method for developing a label that covers several criteria. This is done in Microsoft Excel to merge multiple cells into one and make the primary headers for reports.
- Merge Cells: ALT H+M+M.
- Merge & Center: ALT H+M+C.
- Merge Across: ALT H+M+A.
- Unmerge Cells: ALT H+M+U.
Why merge cells in Excel?
In Excel, you can combine cells to make larger cell sections for headers, text, data, or other crucial information to stand out. By merging cells in Excel, you can design a layout or pattern that fits your data and the objectives of your worksheet. Excel’s cell merging feature is helpful for adjusting cell sizes to maximize the space on your worksheet.
The advantage could be as straightforward as improving the aesthetics of your document or as intricate as assisting you in structuring your data. Merging cells enables you to ensure that all of your content is visible while maintaining the size of other cells in the same column or row because Excel cells do not automatically adjust to fit your cell content.
What does it mean to merge cells in Excel?
In Excel, combining two or more cells to make them span a larger area without affecting the height or width of other cells is done by merging the cells. When you combine multiple cells in Excel, a new section of your worksheet is made up of the space taken up by the cells’ adjacent rows or columns. By enlarging these areas, you have more room to add lengthy passages of text or information and add headers or axis labels to charts. You can change the data’s alignment within the area when merging cells.
What is a shortcut to merge cells in Excel?
By simultaneously or sequentially pressing several keys on your keyboard, you can use a shortcut in Excel to combine cells. Depending on your device’s operating system and keyboard functionality, these keyboard shortcuts may change. Additionally, Excel and your device’s system allow you to create custom shortcuts. You might be able to create personalized system shortcuts in your device’s settings to facilitate Excel cell merging. By pressing a few keys instead of using your mouse to click through toolbar options, using these can help you save time.
How to merge cells with shortcuts in Excel
Take into account the following actions when merging cells in Excel for various uses:
Merge multiple cells
The most fundamental method used for cell merging is the first one. No matter which rows or columns the cells are in, it merges all of the selected ones into a single cell that fills the space occupied by the highlighted ones. To perform this, follow these steps:
Merge your cells and center their alignment
While merging cells to create a header over a dataset or to avoid having to manually format the cells afterwards, merging cells and centering their alignment performs similarly to a simple merge. Additionally, it can be utilized to combine cells in a column to produce a Y-axis label on data. To perform this function, follow these steps:
Merge cells across rows
This function will assist you in merging multiple columns of data into the appropriate cells in the same row. If you chose four text columns and three text rows in the earlier options, one cell would result from the merge. You will end up with three cells if you merge identical cells across rows but only their respective columns for each. To perform this function, follow these steps:
Tips for merging cells in Excel
Excel offers ways to assist you if you have a project that needs to perform several merges or contains important data that you don’t want to lose. Other merging functions in the program include:
Use an ampersand to merge cells without losing cell data
There are two functions you can use to merge multiple cells while preserving the data in each one. The first uses the ampersand symbol, or “&. Click on an empty cell where you want the merged data to appear to use this. Once you’ve entered the equal sign and clicked on the cell you wish to merge, type the ampersand. Put a quotation mark after this, then a space, then another quotation mark. Type one more & to complete the phrase, then click the second cell to combine it. Once you press Enter, they will all appear in the same cell.
For instance, you would type =B5&” “&C8 to combine cells B5 and C8.
Use CONCATENATE to merge cells without losing cell data
Excel’s CONCATENATE function, like the ampersand, enables you to combine multiple strings of text or numbers without erasing any data. Where you want the data to combine, choose a blank cell, and type “=CONCATENATE(” without the quotation marks. Type a comma after clicking the first cell you want to include. A quotation mark, a blank space, and another quotation mark should come after this. Type another comma, then select your next cell. Hit enter to complete this process for all the cells you want to merge. You don’t have to close the parenthesis before calling the function, it’s important to remember that.
For instance, you would type =CONCATENATE(A8,” “,B11,” “,C4 if you wanted to combine the contents of cells A8, B11, and C4.
Repeat merging functions
You can repeat your previous action when merging multiple sets of cells by pressing the shortcut key “F4”. Select your next set of cells, rows, or columns and press “F4” on your keyboard after merging your first set. When combining multiple sets of rows for your spreadsheet design, this feature might be helpful.
Troubleshoot cell merge issues
You might not be able to use all keyboard shortcuts depending on the operating system of your device. In these situations, you can create your own shortcuts by locating the manual merging function buttons and right-clicking them to open a menu. From there, you can choose “Add to Quick Access Toolbar” to create an Excel merge shortcut. With the “Customize Quick Access Toolbar” option, you can further personalize your toolbar and rearrange the features in your quick access shortcuts.
The merge function button turns gray while you are editing a cell, preventing you from merging cells until you exit cell editing by pressing the “Enter” key on your keyboard. It’s possible that you don’t have access to make changes like cell merging if the cell is a part of a table or a protected Excel workbook. You can ask the original file creator or other authorized users to grant you access so that you can merge cells.
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MS Excel: Shortcut Key to Merge Cell, Column & Row (Excel 2007-2019)
FAQ
How do you quickly merge cells in Excel?
Cells can be merged together in a single row by using the keyboard shortcut ALT + H + M + C while the cells are highlighted. Cells can be unmerged by selecting the merged cell and pressing the ALT key while simultaneously pressing the keys H+M+U.
Is there a hot key to merge cells?
Using this function, only the selected cells will be combined into one. The shortcut is “ALT + H + M + M. “.
How do you merge rows quickly?
- Highlight the cells you want to merge.
- Click on the arrow just next to “Merge and Center.”
- Scroll down to click on “Merge Cells”. With alignment preserved, this will combine all rows and columns into a single, sizeable cell.
- The content of the upper-left cell will be merged with the contents of all highlighted cells.
Is there a quick way to merge cells?
The shortcut key to merge cells in Excel is ALT + H + M + M. The shortcut key to unmerge cells in Excel is ALT + H + M + U. When you combine two cells, it will only keep the left-hand side of the data and remove the right-hand side of the data.
