On this page · 11 sections
- Which Excel versions these steps cover
- The merge options at a glance
- How to merge cells in Excel for Windows and Mac
- How to merge cells in Excel for the web
- How to unmerge cells
- How to merge cells without losing data
- Centre a heading without merging
- Problems merged cells cause, and how to fix them
- For IT teams and template owners
- How eCorpIT can help
- References
Summary. To merge cells in Excel, select two or more adjacent cells and choose Home > Merge & Center; the arrow beside it offers Merge Across, Merge Cells and Unmerge Cells, and Excel for the web uses Merge & Center > Merge Cells. Read Microsoft's warning first: only the upper-left cell's contents survive (upper-right in right-to-left languages) and the rest are deleted. To keep everything, join the text first with the & operator, CONCAT or TEXTJOIN, then paste the result as values; TEXTJOIN needs Microsoft 365, Excel 2019 or later, or Excel for the web. For titles, Center Across Selection is usually the better choice: press Ctrl+1, open the Alignment tab and pick it from the Horizontal list. The text looks merged but every cell stays separate, which matters because Microsoft says Excel won't sort a column that contains merged cells. It works in Excel for Windows and Mac but, according to a Microsoft Q&A moderator, not in Excel for the web; since September 2026 Insiders on Windows and Mac can also reach it from the Merge & Center menu.
About this article. For anyone who formats Excel reports, from analysts to IT teams who maintain templates. On 15 November 2026 we checked every step, label, shortcut and function limit against Microsoft Support and Microsoft Learn, and version and support dates against Microsoft's release notes, Excel blog and lifecycle pages. Microsoft's US and UK merge help pages use the same labels. Labels can differ slightly by version and update channel, and no vendor paid for inclusion. Researched with AI assistance and reviewed by our editorial team.
Which Excel versions these steps cover
The steps apply to Excel for Microsoft 365 on Windows (Current Channel Version 2610, build 20527.20196, released 10 November 2026) and on Mac (Version 16.115, released the same day), Excel 2024 and Excel for the web. Microsoft's merge page also lists Excel 2021, 2019 and 2016, where the commands are the same. Excel 2016 and 2019 reached end of support on 14 October 2025 and Excel 2021 on 13 October 2026, so those versions no longer get updates.
The merge options at a glance
Microsoft's merge help, its Format Cells reference and the VBA documentation for merging describe these options.
| Option | What it does | Windows | Mac | Web |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main merge button | One merged cell, content centred | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Merge Across | One merged cell per selected row | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Merge Cells | One merged cell, without centring on the desktop | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Unmerge Cells | Splits a merged cell again | Yes | Yes | Select Merge Cells again |
| Centre across selection | Centres text over several cells without merging | Yes | Yes | No |
| Join with & or TEXTJOIN first | Puts several values in one cell, nothing deleted | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Microsoft's web help covers only Merge Cells; the web entry for Merge Across rests on a Microsoft Q&A moderator's advice.
How to merge cells in Excel for Windows and Mac
- Select two or more adjacent cells. Put the value you want to keep in the upper-left cell first; on a Mac, Microsoft also suggests copying anything else to another place in the sheet before you merge.
- On the Home tab, select Merge & Center to merge and centre in one step.
- To merge without centring, select the arrow next to Merge & Center and choose Merge Across, which turns each selected row into its own merged cell, or Merge Cells, which makes one merged cell for the whole block.
- If the other cells held data, it is now gone. Press Ctrl+Z to undo, combine the values first using the method below, then merge again.
If Merge & Center is unavailable, finish or cancel the cell you are editing, and check that the cells are not formatted as an Excel table, which usually shows banded rows and filter arrows.
You cannot split a cell that was never merged. To spread one cell's text over several columns, use Data > Text to Columns instead.
How to merge cells in Excel for the web
- Select the first cell, then hold Shift and select the last cell in the range.
- Make sure only one cell in the range contains data.
- Select Home > Merge & Center, then Merge Cells.
- To merge without centring, select the merged cell afterwards and choose Align Left, Center or Align Right.
If the merge command is dimmed, check that you are not editing a cell and that the cells are not inside a table.
How to unmerge cells
- Windows and Mac: select the merged cell, select the arrow next to Merge & Center and choose Unmerge Cells.
- Web: press Ctrl+Z straight after a merge to undo it. Later, select the merged cell and choose Home > Merge & Center > Merge Cells again; Microsoft says the data moves to the left cell as the cells split.
Excel stores a merged range's value in its upper-left cell, so that is where the value stays. Unmerging does not bring back anything the merge deleted. Use Undo, or restore an earlier version if the file is stored in OneDrive or SharePoint.
How to merge cells without losing data
A merge keeps only one value, so join the text into a single cell first. Take this sample data:
| Row | A (First) | B (Last) | C (City) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Ana | Silva | Leeds |
| 3 | Raj | Mehta | (blank) |
These formulas give the results shown:
Cell Formula Result
D2 =A2&" "&B2 Ana Silva
E2 =CONCAT(A2," ",B2,", ",C2) Ana Silva, Leeds
D3 =TEXTJOIN(" ",TRUE,A3:C3) Raj Mehta
- Ampersand (&). Works in every version. Put a space, as a text string, between references, as in D2.
- CONCAT. Joins up to 253 text items, and you add separators yourself. It replaces CONCATENATE, which stays available for older versions, and needs Office 2019 or a Microsoft 365 subscription.
- TEXTJOIN. Places a delimiter between items and skips empty cells when the second argument is TRUE, which is why D3 has no trailing space. Microsoft lists it for Microsoft 365 on Windows and Mac, Excel 2024, 2021 and 2019, and Microsoft365.com. It takes up to 252 text arguments and returns #VALUE! if the result passes the 32,767-character cell limit.
Then make the result permanent:
- Select the formula cells and copy them (Ctrl+C, or ⌘+C on a Mac).
- Paste them back as values. On Windows choose Home > Paste > Values; on a Mac, select the arrow next to Paste on the Home tab and choose Paste Values.
- Delete the original columns, or merge the now-empty neighbouring cells around the combined value.
Centre a heading without merging
Center Across Selection is a horizontal alignment setting that centres an entry over the selected cells while every cell stays separate.
Windows:
- Type the heading in the leftmost cell, for example A1, and leave B1:E1 empty.
- Select A1:E1.
- Press Ctrl+1 to open Format Cells.
- On the Alignment tab, open Horizontal and choose Center Across Selection.
- Select OK.
Mac: select the cells, right-click and choose Format Cells (or press ⌘+1), open the Alignment tab and choose Center Across Selection from the Horizontal pop-up menu. Microsoft notes that text rotation is unavailable for cells with this setting.
In preview: Microsoft's September 2026 Excel round-up said Insiders on Windows and Mac now find Center Across Selection in the Merge & Center menu. The October 2026 round-up did not announce it for everyone, and the Current Channel notes up to Version 2610 do not mention it, so most users still go through Format Cells.
Web: not available. A Microsoft Q&A moderator from Microsoft's external support staff said in December 2025 that the browser version lacks the setting, and suggested centring the text and using Merge Across as a workaround. If your team works only in the browser, accept a merge for titles or apply the setting in the desktop app.
Why it is worth the extra clicks: with no merged cells, Microsoft's sorting restriction does not apply, and each cell stays individually selectable. Keep the other cells in the heading row empty.
Problems merged cells cause, and how to fix them
- Sorting fails. Microsoft says Excel doesn't sort data in a column that contains merged cells. Find and unmerge them first.
- You can't merge inside a table. Merge & Center is disabled for cells formatted as an Excel table. Put the heading above the table, or convert it: on Windows select Table Design > Convert to Range, and on a Mac select Table > Convert to Range, then Yes. Converting removes table features such as structured references, so read our guide on how to name a table in Excel before you give a table up.
- Wrapped text is cut off. Microsoft notes that wrapped text may not show in full when it sits in merged cells. Unmerge, then fit the row with Home > Format > AutoFit Row Height. Our guide to justifying text in Excel covers wrap and alignment in more detail.
- Formatting is locked. On a protected sheet, people can change cell formatting only if the owner allowed Format cells when protecting it. Our guide on how to lock cells in Excel explains those options.
- You can't find the merged cells. In the desktop app, select Home > Find & Select > Find, select Options if the Format button is hidden, then Format. On the Alignment tab tick Merge cells, select OK (or Close in some versions) and choose Find All. Selecting a result selects that merged cell. In Excel for the web, select a cell and see whether Merge & Center is highlighted in the Alignment group.
For IT teams and template owners
Keep raw data unmerged in Excel tables, and limit merges, or better Center Across Selection, to title rows and print layouts.
If you build templates with VBA, set heading alignment instead of merging. HorizontalAlignment accepts the XlHAlign constants, and xlHAlignCenterAcrossSelection has the value 7; Range.Merge with Across set to True merges each row separately.
' VBA: centre a title over A1:E1 without merging
Range("A1:E1").HorizontalAlignment = xlHAlignCenterAcrossSelection
People who work only in the browser cannot apply that setting from the web ribbon, so test templates in Excel for the web as well as the desktop apps.
How eCorpIT can help
eCorpIT is a Gurugram-based technology organisation, founded in 2021, assessed at CMMI Level 5 and MSME certified, with senior-led engineering teams working across AWS, Microsoft and Google platforms. Our data and analytics services team cleans up legacy workbooks and rebuilds reporting templates so the data stays sortable, filterable and ready for automation. Talk to us at /contact-us/.
Last updated: 15 November 2026.
