Sometimes, you need to combine cells containing different information. You need to change multiple cells into one. You could also need to merge columns or rows and vertically or horizontally.
If you want to merge cells in Google Sheets, this is the tutorial for you. Here are 4 simple ways to do so depending on the data stored in the cell.
How to Merge Cells in Google Sheets (Method 1)
This first method uses the Google Sheets format menu to merge cells. This Google Sheets option is useful if you want to see all of the options for merging.
Step 1: Select the cells to merge.
Step 2: Click Format in the main toolbar.
Step 3: Select Merge cells on the drop-down list.
Step 4: Select Merge all.
Step 5: If the cells you merge have content, a box will appear, telling you that only the content of the upper leftmost cell will remain. Click OK.
The cells are now merged:
You can reference the screen recording below to make the steps to merge cells google sheets crystal-clear to you:
You can use these same steps to merge cells in the same column:
How to Merge Cells in Google Sheets (Method 2)
You can also merge cells in just a single click, and that is through the merge cells icon in the main toolbar.
After selecting your cells, simply press this button in the main menu.
You can check the screen recording below:
Additional options to merge cells Google Sheets
Merge cells vertically in Google Sheets
Google Sheets also allows you to merge cells of a selected range vertically or horizontally, thus creating long columns or long rows, respectively, instead of a single cell. Whereas the "Merge all" option creates only one big cell, these options create merged rows or columns even if you select multiple rows or columns.
To do so, here are the steps:
Step 1: Select the cells to merge.
Step 2: Click Format in the main toolbar, select Merge cells on the drop-down list, then select Merge vertically or Merge horizontally, depending on what you need.
Step 3: If the cells you merge have content, a box will appear, telling you that only the content of the upper leftmost box will remain. Click Ok.
The cells are now merged:
You can check the screen recording below to make the steps to make this method to merge cells crystal-clear to you:
Merge Horizontally in Google Sheets
Merging cells horizontally will merge each cell in a row into one cell. Even if you select more than rows, it will only merge across an individual row.
The steps to merge horizontally are just as easy. Just follow the same steps to merge vertically and choose the option to "merge horizontally."
Keyboard shortcut to merge cells Google Sheets (Method 4)
Check out our article about a simple merge cells shortcut in Google Sheets.
You can merge cells through the following keyboard shortcuts:
Alt+O then Alt+M
This will open the merge options in the Format menu in Google Sheets. You can then select the option you want to apply:
How to Unmerge cells in Google Sheets
Check out our complete unmerge cells in Google Sheets tutorial.
Sometimes you need to revert merged cells to their previous form. Similarly to merging cells, this process is just as simple! Follow the steps below:
Step 1: Select the merged cell or cells to unmerge in Google Sheets.
Step 2: Click in the main toolbar
Step 3: Select Merge cells on the drop-down list
Step 4: Select Unmerge.
Your merged cells are now unmerged:
You can also reference the screen recording below:
How to merge cells in Google Sheets without losing data
Unfortunately, the methods for merging cells in Google Sheets only preserve the upper left-most value. It removes the data that is not from the upper-leftmost cell of the range of cells you want to merge. Luckily, there is a solution in Google Sheets if you want to merge cell contents rather than the cells themselves:
-Merge Cells and Keep Data in Google Sheets
You can also use functions designed to combine strings of text to merge cells without losing data such as CONCAT, JOIN, and COMBINE.
Additionally, you can do so much more using these commands. You can check our other relevant tutorials below:
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