Jun 2, 2026

How to Merge Cells in Excel (2026)

Excel Merge Cells Spreadsheets How-to Formatting Productivity

Merging combines several adjacent cells into one — handy for titles and section headers that span columns. Excel offers three merge styles plus an unmerge, and one important catch: merging keeps only the top-left value. Here’s how to do it right.

1. Merge & Center

The most common option, for a heading centered over several columns:

Select the adjacent cells (e.g., A1:D1).
On the Home tab, click Merge & Center in the Alignment group.

The cells become one and the content centers across it.

2. The Three Merge Options

Click the arrow next to Merge & Center for the full menu:

Merge & Center — merges the selection into one cell and centers the text.
Merge Across — merges each row in the selection separately (great for merging columns across many rows at once, without combining the rows).
Merge Cells — merges into one cell but keeps the existing alignment (no auto-centering).

3. Unmerge Cells

Click the merged cell.
On the Home tab, click Merge & Center again to toggle it off — or open the arrow and choose Unmerge Cells.

The single value returns to the top-left cell; the others come back empty.

4. Merge Without Losing Data

Merging discards everything except the top-left value. To combine the text from several cells instead, don’t merge — concatenate them:

=A1&" "&B1&" "&C1

Put that in a spare cell, then copy and Paste Special > Values where you want the combined text.

5. A Safer Alternative: Center Across Selection

Merged cells break sorting, copy/paste, and selection. To visually center a title across columns without actually merging:

Select the cells.
Press Ctrl+1 (Cmd+1 on Mac) to open Format Cells.
On the Alignment tab, set Horizontal to Center Across Selection.
Click OK.

The title looks centered across the columns, but each cell stays independent.

6. Troubleshooting

Merge & Center is greyed out

The worksheet is protected, or you’re editing a cell. Unprotect the sheet (Review > Unprotect Sheet) or press Esc first.

”Merging cells only keeps the upper-left value”

That’s the warning before data loss. Cancel, move the other values out (or concatenate them), then merge.

Can’t sort or filter

A merged cell in the range blocks it. Unmerge the cells, or use Center Across Selection instead.

Mac and Web

Merge & Center sits in the same spot on the Home tab in Excel for Mac and Excel for the web.

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