A standard spreadsheet is comprised of cells, laid out in a grid-like pattern of rows and columns. You may have a need to modify this pattern, and the way to do that is by merging cells. Sheets allows you to easily merge any number of cells into a single cell.
To merge cells, simply select the range of cells you want to merge and then click the Merge Cells tool on the toolbar. (See Figure 1.)
Figure 1. The Merge Cells tool is used to combine a range of cells.
If the cells you selected contain any data, then Sheets lets you know that the contents of all cells except the upper-left one will be lost if you proceed with the merge. (If you are OK with that, click OK when prompted.)
Once a range of cells is merged, you can still refer to the merged cell in formulas. You do this by using the address of the upper-left cell in the merged range. For instance, if you merge cells E3 and E4 into a single cell, then you would refer to the new, merged cell using the address E3. (If you use the address E4 in a formula, Sheets treats it as a blank cell, not as the contents of the merged range.)
If you want to unmerge a previously merged group of cells, simply select the merged cell, click the down-arrow at the right of the Merge Cells tool, and choose the Unmerge option.
When you get a lot of data in a spreadsheet, it can be hard to zero in on the data you really need to work with. That's where ...
Discover MoreComments can help document what is going on in a spreadsheet. Here's how to easily add comments to individual cells.
Discover MoreNeed to share your spreadsheet with others who may not be using Google Sheets? Here's an easy way to export your spreadsheet ...
Discover MoreThere are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)
Copyright © 2017 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments