Shortcut Key to Merge Cells in Excel

It is most widely used in data formatting for better layout or appearance. We can merge cells through “Controls” in the “Alignment” tab dialog box under the “Home” tab toolbar.

We can also merge through the “Alignment” section in “Format Cells.” Finally, in the “Text control” option, you must click or select merge cells in excelMerge Cells In ExcelMerging a cell in excel refers to combining two or more adjacent cells either vertically, horizontally or both ways. Merging excel cells is specifically required when a heading or title has to be centered over an area of a worksheet.read more.

  • To Organizing multiple sections under one heading, i.e., It is used most commonly when Big title of tabular datasets is to be centered over the top in a particular section of a spreadsheetIt is used to combine the First Name, middle name & Last Name columns into one single column as Full nameWhen you pull out a data from a database or another source, it contains the address in the split format in several columns with Street, City, Zip, State fields separately. For this data, with the help of the merge option, we can combine those fields into a single “Address” column

Top 4 Types Of Merge Cell Options in Excel (with Shortcuts)

Merge Cells: It is the art of combining multiple cells of rows or columns into a single cell.ws or columns to a single cell.

Various types of Merge options with Shortcut keys to merge cells in excel are as follows:

  • Merge Cells (Excel Shortcut keyExcel Shortcut KeyAn Excel shortcut is a technique of performing a manual task in a quicker way.read more – ALT H+M+M)Merge & Center (Excel Shortcut key – ALT H+M+C)Merge Across (Excel Shortcut key – ALT H+M+A)Unmerge Cells (Excel Shortcut key – ALT H+M+U)

#1 – Merge Cells (Excel Shortcut)

It merges the range into a single cell, but the position of text in cell content is not centered.

Use the excel shortcut – Merge Cells (ALT H+M+M)

For Example

#2 – Merge & Center (Excel Shortcut)

It merges the range of cells into one cell, and the position of text in cell content is centered here. i.e., a position of text horizontally centers the content.

  • Note: It will keep only the left column of data and delete the data from other columns.Use the Excel shortcut key – Merge & Center (ALT H+M+C).

#3 – Merge Across (Excel Shortcut)

It will combine each row in the selected range across the columns in the range. However, it will not merge the data into one cell.

  • Note: only the left column of data will be kept, and the data of other columns will be deleted.Use the excel shortcut key – Merge Across (ALT H+M+A)

#4 – Unmerge Cells (Excel Shortcut)

It reverses the merge option where it returns the merged cell to a range of individual cells (unmerged) when you are working on a dataset. If you have mistakenly merged some of the cells, then this option is helpful to unmerge them.

Use the excel shortcut key – Unmerge Cells (ALT H+M+U)

Important Note:

All the merge options can only merge the cells, but not the text present within these cells.

For Example, In the below-mentioned example, suppose we try to merge the texts of cells A2 and B2; a popup appears asking you, “Merging cells only keeps the upper-left value, and discards other values.” It means it will keep the text from the leftmost cell (A2 in this case) and remove the text from another cell (cell B2).

If you click “OK,” only the content or text of cell A2 appears in the merged cells. The text of B2 cells disappears (Note: It may warn you before this happens, with a popup window).

Things to Remember

With the merge option, your spreadsheet looks visually presentable and highly organized.

There is also an alternative to merging cells in Excel. We can select the data we want to combine, right-click, and choose the “Format” option. The “Format Cells” window appears, and at last select “Center Across Selection” in the “Text alignment” section.

This article has guided the Shortcut Key to Merge Cells in Excel. Here, we discuss merging cells in Excel using shortcuts and formulas, practical examples, and a downloadable Excel template. You may learn more about Excel from the following articles: –

  • VBA CellsVBA CellsCells are cells of the worksheet, and in VBA, when we refer to cells as a range property, we refer to the same cells. In VBA concepts, cells are also the same, no different from normal excel cells.read moreMerge and Center in ExcelMerge And Center In ExcelThe merge and center button is used to merge two or more different cells. When data is inserted into any merged cells, it is in the center position, hence the name merge and center. read moreHow to Unmerge Cells in Excel?Lock Cells Excel