Forum Discussion
Merging Cells without losing data
I have an excel spreadsheet made by someone else. Instead of merging 4 columns G, H, I, & J then typing the information, he left the 4 columns separate and typed the information into column G, The information spread through columns H, I, & J.
Without retyping the whole spreadsheet, can I merge the 4 columns into 1 column without losing the data.
I can merge the 4 columns 1 row at a time, but I would like to do the whole spreadsheet in one operation.
See Screenshot
I agree with the suggestion above to avoid using merged cells. Typically it can be avoided by just adjusting the column width to fit the data in it, but we can't see what lies below, so you may have a reason, and it's not my place to tell you it's wrong or right. To answer your question directly, Select cell G4 to J<last row of data>. Go to the Home tab, and click the arrow next to Merge, an you should see other options. Choose Merge Across, and it will do all the cells that you have selected row by row. Also, for future reference, I suggest not posting personal information in your posts. Name email and phone numbers are probably not information you or the individuals on the spreadsheet want published on the interwebs.
<Edit>
When you merge, Excel will keep the data on the leftmost cell, so if you do this on row 2, you may lose the E-MAIL header, but as long as the email addresses are all in G you shouldn't lose any of them
Perhaps the simplest is the CONCATENATE function. So here are some examples of concatenating multiple lines into one:
Merge lines with spaces between dates: For example = CONCATENATE (B1, “”, B2, “”, B3)
Combine lines with no spaces between values: For example = CONCATENATE (A1, A2, A3)
Merge rows> separate the values with a comma: For example = CONCATENATE (A1, “,”, A2, “,”, A3)I would be happy to know if I could help.
Nikolino
I know I don't know anything (Socrates)
* Kindly Mark and Vote this reply if it helps please, as it will be beneficial to more Community members reading here.
Thank you, this was very helpful to me NikolinoDE
It is a bad idea to have merged columns and you should avoid them because they will be troublesome sooner or later.
If your data is in column G only and columns H:J are empty, you may delete the columns H:J and increase the column width of column G do display the text in its own column.
Whoever has designed your sheet has done right thing by not merging the columns but having empty columns in between is also not a good idea so get rid of them.
Nikolino,
In the brackets, since it’s columns G,H,I,J that I want to merge. Do I put (G1, H1, I1, J1) the combinations I tried wasn’t working.
Thank you for helping me
Jim
With your permission, if I can recommend. It can help us all if you upload an Excel file (without sensitive data), no picture. Even if it is said that a picture can say a thousand words, it is certainly not in the case of Excel, on the contrary in some cases. This would also be a blessing for all of us, as we can understand the problem much better, a win-win situation for everyone.
* Knowing the Excel version and operating system would also be an advantage.
Thank you for your understanding and patience
Nikolino
I know I don't know anything (Socrates)
I agree with the suggestion above to avoid using merged cells. Typically it can be avoided by just adjusting the column width to fit the data in it, but we can't see what lies below, so you may have a reason, and it's not my place to tell you it's wrong or right. To answer your question directly, Select cell G4 to J<last row of data>. Go to the Home tab, and click the arrow next to Merge, an you should see other options. Choose Merge Across, and it will do all the cells that you have selected row by row. Also, for future reference, I suggest not posting personal information in your posts. Name email and phone numbers are probably not information you or the individuals on the spreadsheet want published on the interwebs.
<Edit>
When you merge, Excel will keep the data on the leftmost cell, so if you do this on row 2, you may lose the E-MAIL header, but as long as the email addresses are all in G you shouldn't lose any of them
