Microsoft Excel guide
By
Elias Brandt
Elias Brandt writes about marketing, email and analytics tools for Appcyclopedia, working on a ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10 and a Galaxy S25.
- Windows
- macOS
- Web
Short answer
Select the cells, go to the Home tab and select Merge & Center. To merge without centring, open the arrow next to it and choose Merge Across or Merge Cells. To undo it, choose Unmerge Cells from the same menu.
Only the top-left value survives: merging deletes the contents of every other cell in the selection, so copy anything you need first.
Below: the steps, which merge option to use, unmerging, and the problems merged cells cause in tables.
How to combine cells in Excel with Merge & Center
To merge cells in Excel, select them and use the Merge & Center menu on the Home tab. The first group merges, the second undoes it.
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Merge the cells
Copy anything you need to keep
Look at the cells you are about to merge. Excel keeps only the value in the top-left cell and deletes the rest. If other cells hold text or numbers you need, copy them somewhere else first.
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Select the cells to merge
Drag across the cells, for example A1 to F1 for a title over six columns. They must be next to each other and form a rectangle.
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Select Merge & Center on the Home tab
On the Home tab, select Merge & Center. The cells become one, with the content centred across it. If Excel warns that only the upper-left value will be kept, select OK to continue.
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Or choose another merge option from the arrow
Select the arrow next to Merge & Center. Merge Across merges each selected row separately, useful for several rows of labels. Merge Cells merges everything without centring the text.
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Undo a merge
Select the merged cell and choose Unmerge Cells
Click the merged cell, open the arrow next to Merge & Center and choose Unmerge Cells. The cell splits back into its original cells, with the content in the top-left one. Deleted values do not come back.
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Find merged cells you have forgotten about
Use Find (Ctrl+F), open Options, then Format, and choose Merge cells under Alignment. Excel lists every merged cell, so you can unmerge them before sorting.
A title across a monthly report: type “Sales, March 2026” in A1, select A1 to F1 and select Merge & Center. The title sits centred over the six columns of figures below it, and the figures themselves stay in ordinary cells.
Merge only headings and labels, never the data underneath: merged cells break sorting and filtering in a table.
More about Microsoft Excel
Microsoft’s spreadsheet app, free on the web with a Microsoft account.
When merged cells cause problems in Excel
- Excel will not sort the range
Sorting fails when merged cells sit inside the range. Unmerge them, sort, then merge the headings again if you need to.
- Merge & Center is greyed out
You may be editing a cell, the sheet may be protected, or the cells may be inside an Excel table. Press Esc, check the sheet protection, or convert the table to a range first.
- Text from the other cells disappeared
Merging keeps only the top-left value. Press Ctrl+Z straight away to undo the merge and get the values back, then copy them before merging.
Which merge option to use
The Merge & Center menu has three ways to merge and one to undo.
| Option | What it does | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Merge & Center | One cell, content centred | A title over several columns |
| Merge Across | Each row merged on its own | Several rows of wide labels |
| Merge Cells | One cell, alignment unchanged | A label you want left-aligned |
| Unmerge Cells | Splits a merged cell again | Undoing any of the above |
Use Merge & Center for titles and nothing else: it is the one merge that almost never gets in the way.
Why merged cells and data do not mix
Excel treats a merged cell as one cell covering several rows or columns. Sorting, filtering and selecting a column all expect every cell to be its own, so a merged cell in the middle of your data makes them refuse or behave oddly.
Keep merges to the area above or beside your data, where they label it, and leave the rows of figures as ordinary cells.
What to do after merging cells
Once your headings are merged, format them like any other cell: bold, a fill colour, a larger font.
Copy anything you need, select the cells and choose Merge & Center. To add up the figures under your new heading, the guide to adding up a column in Excel covers AutoSum.
Merging cells in Excel, answered
- Can I merge cells without losing data?
- Not with Merge & Center, which keeps only the top-left value. To combine text from several cells, use a formula such as CONCAT or the & operator in a new cell.
- What is the difference between Merge Across and Merge Cells?
- Merge Across merges each row of the selection separately. Merge Cells turns the whole selection into one cell.
- Can I undo a merge?
- Yes. Select the merged cell and choose Unmerge Cells. The original cells come back, but values deleted by the merge do not.
- Why do people say not to merge cells?
- Merged cells stop sorting, filtering and some copy and paste from working. They are fine for titles above a table, not inside it.
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- Worked Every step, start to finish · Elias Brandt and Daniel Okonkwo Team
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Steps performed and confirmed 6 days ago
When you need this
To put a heading across several columns in Excel, select the cells and use Merge & Center on the Home tab. Merging keeps only the top-left value.
- Describes
- Excel for Microsoft 365 on Windows · Excel for the web
- Takes
- A few seconds
- Platforms
- Windows · macOS · Web
- Published
- 18 October 2026
- Facts checked
- 10 October 2026
Steps repeated and verified by 
Elias Brandt and 
Daniel Okonkwo
on
- Elias Brandt: the Windows and web steps on a ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Windows 11 Pro).
- Daniel Okonkwo: the Mac steps on a MacBook Pro (macOS 27.0.1).
Microsoft Excel 