Forum Discussion

lookingforhelp's avatar
lookingforhelp
Copper Contributor
Jan 26, 2022

Merging cells button is disabled in table format (Microsoft 2016)

Hi,

I'd like to section my tables by merging cells, but that button is disabled in table format. It works fine whenever I am not working in a table format, but it becomes unclickable whenever I try to do it in a table.

 

I have already added the toolbox add-ins, but nothing changes.

Can anybody help me with this?

 

Thanks in advance!

3 Replies

  • lookingforhelp's avatar
    lookingforhelp
    Copper Contributor
    I have found it:

    https://www.extendoffice.com/documents/excel/4488-excel-merge-cells-in-table.html
    • SergeiBaklan's avatar
      SergeiBaklan
      Diamond Contributor

      lookingforhelp 

      Even with ranges, forget about merging cells. Your life will be much easier in future.

      If necessary, use

    • Riny_van_Eekelen's avatar
      Riny_van_Eekelen
      Platinum Contributor

      lookingforhelp I was going to reply "Very good. Do not use merged cells. They are often the cause of trouble".

       

      You discovered that you can't use merged cells in structured tables, because merging cells makes the date unstructured and that is not recommended when you still need (or intend) to analyze, sort, filter or summarize the data. Though, merged cells do little harm in a final reporting lay-out.

       

      The link you found merely describes how to remove the structure from the data set and turn the table into a "flat" range, permitting the merging of cells.

Resources