Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 30, 2025)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Excel in Microsoft 365
Excel has long included the ability to merge adjacent cells into a larger, single cell. This ability has been used by many worksheet designers to give their worksheets a polished, professional look.
There is a huge drawback to using merged cells, however: You can't sort tables that include them. If you try, you'll get a message that says, "The operation requires the merged cells to be identically sized."
The most obvious solution to the problem is to not use merged cells. Let's say, for instance, that you have a worksheet in which each "record" actually consists of two rows, and that the first column of the worksheet contains merged cells. (Each two-row record starts with two merged cells spanning the two rows. This merged cell contains a project name.)
It is better to unmerge the cells in the first column, but then you may wonder how to make the records sort properly in the worksheet; how to keep the row pairs together during a sort. You can do this by putting your project name in the first row and the project name appended with "zz" in the second row. For instance, if the first row contains "Wilburn Chemical" (the project name), then the second row could contain "Wilburn Chemicalzz". Format the second row's cell so the name doesn't show up (such as white text on a white background), and you can then successfully sort as you want to.
Another solution is to use a macro to juggle your worksheet and get the sorting done. Assuming that the merged cells are in column A (as previously described), you can use the following macro to sort the data by the contents of column A:
Sub SortList() Dim sAddStart As String Dim rng As Range Dim rng2 As Range Dim lRows As Long Application.ScreenUpdating = False sAddStart = Selection.Address Set rng = Range("A1").CurrentRegion With rng lRows = .Rows.Count - 1 .Cells(1).EntireColumn.Insert .Cells(1).Offset(0, -1) = "Temp" .Cells(1).Offset(1, -1).FormulaR1C1 = _ "=+RC[1]&"" ""&ROW()" .Cells(1).Offset(2, -1).FormulaR1C1 = _ "=+R[-1]C[1]&"" ""&ROW()" Set rng2 = .Cells(1).Offset(1, -1).Resize(lRows, 1) Range(.Cells(2, 0), .Cells(3, 0)).AutoFill _ Destination:=rng2 rng2.Copy rng2.PasteSpecial Paste:=xlValues .Columns(1).MergeCells = False .CurrentRegion.Sort _ Key1:=Range("A2"), Order1:=xlAscending, _ Header:=xlYes, OrderCustom:=1, _ MatchCase:=False, Orientation:=xlTopToBottom rng2.EntireColumn.Delete With Range(.Cells(2, 1), .Cells(3, 1)) .Merge .Copy .Cells(3, 1).Resize(lRows - 2, 1). _ PasteSpecial Paste:=xlFormats End With End With Application.CutCopyMode = False Range(sAddStart).Select Application.ScreenUpdating = True End Sub
The macro inserts a temporary column, reads the items from the first column of the list, appends the row number, copies it down the temporary column, unmerges the cells, sorts the list, deletes the temporary column, and re-merges column A. (That's a lot of work just to sort a table with merged cells!)
This macro is very specific to a particular layout of your data, and therefore would need to be tested and probably modified to make sure it would work with data formatted in any other way.
Note:
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (761) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Sorting Data Containing Merged Cells.
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2025-09-04 06:01:30
SteveJez
Surely the "problem" is that users are not sufficiently trained. There should be no reason to use merged cells in data sets/ranges. Merged cells should only exist in "presentation" sheets / spaces / reports. Data should be capable of being sorted / filtered without the hinderance of workarounds or having to run macros.
The report / output should then "indirectly" use that data.
Education is key.
2025-09-03 12:54:09
J. Woolley
Re. the macro in my comment below, the following two statements
.Cells(n) = .Cells(n) & Format(n, FMT)
.Cells(n + 1) = .Cells(n) & Format(n + 1, FMT)
should be reversed like this
.Cells(n + 1) = .Cells(n) & Format(n + 1, FMT)
.Cells(n) = .Cells(n) & Format(n, FMT)
The macro works without the correction, but the correction makes it work as intended. Mea culpa.
2025-08-31 14:53:00
J. Woolley
Here's an alternate version of the Tip's macro. It assumes the following:
1. Row 1 of the list is a heading
2. Cells in column A below row 1 are merged in pairs
3. The merged cells in column A contain text constants
4. There are no other merged cells in the list
Sub SortList2()
Const FMT = "0000000000"
Dim nRows As Long, n As Long
With Range("A1").CurrentRegion
nRows = .Rows.Count
With .Columns(1)
.UnMerge
For n = 2 To nRows Step 2
.Cells(n) = .Cells(n) & Format(n, FMT)
.Cells(n + 1) = .Cells(n) & Format(n + 1, FMT)
Next n
End With
.Sort Key1:=Range("A2"), Order1:=xlAscending, Header:=xlYes
With .Columns(1)
For n = 2 To nRows Step 2
.Cells(n) = Left(.Cells(n), Len(.Cells(n)) - Len(FMT))
.Cells(n + 1) = ""
Range(.Cells(n), .Cells(n + 1)).Merge
Next n
End With
End With
End Sub
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