Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Shortcut to Merge Cells.

Shortcut to Merge Cells

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 11, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365


3

Excel allows you to merge cells together in two ways: using the Merge and Center tool on the ribbon or toolbar, or by using the controls in the Alignment tab of the Format Cells dialog box. If you merge cells quite a bit, you might long for a keyboard shortcut that will merge whatever cells you've selected.

Unfortunately, Excel doesn't include such a shortcut. You can, however, create one using a macro. The following is a simple macro to merge whatever cells you've selected:

Sub MergeCells1()
    Selection.Merge
End Sub

After you create the macro, you can assign it to a keyboard shortcut and you are set to go. If you instead want a macro that is a shortcut for the Merge and Center tool, then you can use the following:

Sub MergeCells2()
    With Selection
        .HorizontalAlignment = xlCenter
        .Merge
    End With
End Sub

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the ExcelTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (12458) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Shortcut to Merge Cells.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Using Crop Marks with a PostScript Printer

Want to add crop marks to a printout? It's easy to do, provided you are using a PostScript printer.

Discover More

Protecting Document Areas from Global Replacements

You may have boilerplate text that you need to include in your document, and it would be detrimental to accidently change ...

Discover More

Finding the Parent Folder

Do you need to figure out the name of the parent folder of whatever folder a worksheet is in? Believe it or not, this can ...

Discover More

Best-Selling VBA Tutorial for Beginners Take your Excel knowledge to the next level. With a little background in VBA programming, you can go well beyond basic spreadsheets and functions. Use macros to reduce errors, save time, and integrate with other Microsoft applications. Fully updated for the latest version of Office 365. Check out Microsoft 365 Excel VBA Programming For Dummies today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Retaining Formatting After a Paste Multiply

You can use the Paste Special feature in Excel to multiply the values in a range of cells. If you don't want Excel to ...

Discover More

Replacing Background Colors in Cells

Want a quick way to replace background colors in cells? It's easy to do using Find and Replace, or you can simply use the ...

Discover More

Displaying Latitude and Longitude

If you work with geographic data, you may need a way to display latitude and longitude in a worksheet. This tip examines ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 4 - 4?

2023-02-13 07:15:30

Steve J

This message from the Ribbon merge button should be re-written to "This is a diabolical way of creating a title that spans multiple columns"

(see Figure 1 below)


How this button has been allowed to remain on the main ribbon is a mystery, in IMHO it should be replaced with a Centre Across Selection button & the merge facility relegated to the Alignment dropdown menu.
Listen to any MVP & they advise against using merge in most circumstances.

Figure 1. The worst Excel advice ever !


2023-02-12 10:29:19

J. Woolley

For more about Center Across Selection, see https://excelribbon.tips.net/T012183_Creating_a_Center_Across_Selection_Button.html


2023-02-11 14:47:46

Mark Watson

Please DON'T Merge cells. They make doing more advanced activities very difficult if not impossible. Instead use "Center Across Selection" on the Alignment tab of the Format Cells pop-up.

If I had a nickel for every time I had to undo Merges (usually Merge and Center) to be able to even simple things like Insert Column or Copy and Paste I'd be retired already ;-)


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.