Merge Cells in Excel

Why Merge Cells in Excel?

The most common reason to merge cells is for formattingExcel Modeling Best PracticesThe following excel modeling best practices allow the user to provide the cleanest and most user-friendly modeling experience. Microsoft Excel is an extremely robust tool. Learning to become an Excel power user is almost mandatory for those in the fields of investment banking, corporate finance, and private equity. and centering headings. This guide will show you how to merge cells in ExcelExcel ResourcesLearn Excel online with 100's of free Excel tutorials, resources, guides & cheat sheets! CFI's resources are the best way to learn Excel on your own terms., even though it is highly recommended that you don’t merge them unless you absolutely need to. As an alternative, we recommend using the Center Across Selection feature. Learn with video instruction in CFI’s Free Excel Crash Course!

How to Merge Cells in Excel

Follow the steps below to learn how to easily combine multiple cells in an Excel spreadsheet. Use the screenshots as a guide and then try it on your own!

Step 1

Select the cells you want to merge. Highlight them with your mouse or by starting in one cell, holding Shift, then using the arrows to select to the end.

Step 2

On the Home Ribbon, select the Format Cells button, or press the keyboard shortcutExcel Shortcuts PC MacExcel Shortcuts - List of the most important & common MS Excel shortcuts for PC & Mac users, finance, accounting professions. Keyboard shortcuts speed up your modeling skills and save time. Learn editing, formatting, navigation, ribbon, paste special, data manipulation, formula and cell editing, and other shortucts Ctrl + 1 to open the Format Cells dialogue box.

Step 3

Inside the Format Cells menu, click on the Alignment tab and tick the box that says Merge Cells.

Learn step-by-step in CFI’s Free Excel Crash Course!

Step 4

Click center to place the title in the center of the merged cells and set a background color to make the title really stand out.

An Alternative to Merge Cells in Excel – Center Across Selection

Merging cells is not recommended because it interferes with actions you may wish to take later while building your financial modelWhat is Financial ModelingFinancial modeling is performed in Excel to forecast a company's financial performance. Overview of what is financial modeling, how & why to build a model.. For example, if you want to insert or delete columns across the middle of merged cells, you will not be able to.

You can achieve the same formatting outcome as merging cells by using the Center Across Selection function.

Follow the steps below to perform the action yourself.

Step 1

Select the cells you want to center using the mouse or holding the Shift key and using the keyboard arrows.

Learn step-by-step in CFI’s Free Excel Crash Course!

Step 2

Open the Format Cells dialogue box on the Home Ribbon, or by pressing Ctrl + 1 (Windows shortcut, see the Mac equivalent shortcut).

Step 3

Now click on the Alignment tab and then choose Center Across Selection. Note: be sure to uncheck Merge Cells if it’s already checked.

Congratulations! You now have nicely centered text without combining cells.

Additional Resources

Thank you for reading CFI’s guide to Merging Cells in Excel. To continue learning and advancing your career, these additional CFI resources will be useful:

• Data ValidationData Validation in ExcelData validation in Excel is an existing and accessible tool to ensure data integrity while building a financial model. It helps secure your model inputs and outputs.
• Dynamic Financial AnalysisDynamic Financial AnalysisThis guide will teach you how to perform dynamic financial analysis in Excel using advanced formulas and functions. INDEX, MATCH, and INDEX MATCH MATCH Functions, Combining CELL, COUNTA, MID and OFFSET in a Formula. When used, these Excel functions make your financial statement analysis more dynamic
• Find and Replace in ExcelFind and Replace in ExcelLearn how to search in Excel - this step by step tutorial will teach how to Find and Replace in Excel spreadsheets using Ctrl + F shortcut. Excel find and replace allows you to quickly search all cells and formulas in a spreadsheet for all instances that match your search criteria. This guide will cover how to
• Guide to Excel FunctionsFunctionsList of the most important Excel functions for financial analysts. This cheat sheet covers 100s of functions that are critical to know as an Excel analyst