Forum Discussion
"all the merged cells need to be the same size" during a Custom Sort
On ASUS StudioBook x64 PC, Windows 10 Pro for Workstations, ver. 20H2 (OS Build 19042.1288)Microsoft 365, EXCEL ver. 2109 (Build 1443020306) ...
While attempting to do a custom sort of an EXCEL table of 96,600 + records, I received an error stating "all the merged cells need to be the same size during this operation" Following online help directions for finding merged cells, none were found! (I didn't knowingly create merged cells, but when clicking Options > Format > Alignment, under Text Control, both "Wrap text" and "Merge cells" have their squares filled in with black fill.) The same error occurs when I attempt to sort the field 'editinitl' (A to Z) in the table. The field holds 3-character-long abbreviations of persons name in capital.
Why is this message occurring when the suggested find procedure finds no merged cells?
Here's the procedure I tried to find the merged cells.
Find merged cells
You may encounter an Excel worksheets that has https://support.office.com/en-us/f1/topic/merge-and-unmerge-cells-5cbd15d5-9375-4540-907f-c673a93fcedf?NS=EXCEL&Version=90 that you don’t know about. This can be frustrating because Excel doesn't sort data in a column that contains merged cells.
Following the steps below, you can find all the merged cells in your worksheet and then https://support.office.com/en-us/f1/topic/merge-and-unmerge-cells-5cbd15d5-9375-4540-907f-c673a93fcedf?NS=EXCEL&Version=90.
Click Home > Find & Select > Find.
Click Options > Format.
Click Alignment > Merge cells > OK.
Click Find All to see a list of all merged cells in your worksheet.
When you click an item in the list, Excel selects the merged cell in your worksheet. You can now https://support.office.com/en-us/f1/topic/merge-and-unmerge-cells-5cbd15d5-9375-4540-907f-c673a93fcedf?NS=EXCEL&Version=90.
Need more help?
You can always ask an expert in the Excel Tech Community or get support in the https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=827514.
9 Replies
pjfloraWhen I try to do this on a Mac, using Office365's Excel, there is no option to find formats. I have an image for this, but Tech Community won't let me upload it. The options on the Find pop up are only "Within:" "Search:" and "Look in:"
Within is sheet or book; search is by rows or columns, and look in offers "formulas," "values," "notes," and "comments."
Is there another way to find merged cells?
char-glee23052023 No, I never figured this out. Honestly, it's been so long since I asked that I have completely forgotten the context.
Maybe this information will help you ... if not please just ignore it.
You may receive an error message when you sort a range that contains merged cells in Excel
Symptoms
When you sort a range in a Microsoft Excel worksheet, Excel does not sort the range. Additionally, you may receive the following error message:
This operation requires the merged cells to be identically sized.
Cause
This issue might occur if you sort a range of cells, and if the following conditions are true:
- You previously merged some of the cells, but not all of the cells in the sort range.
- You previously merged all of the cells in the sort range and the cells are not all the same size.
Workaround
To work around this issue, split all the merged cells in the range, or merge all the cells in the range so that the merged cells are the same size. Each merged cell in the range must occupy the same number of rows and columns as the other merged cells in the range.
Hope I was able to help you with this info.
NikolinoDE
I know I don't know anything (Socrates)
