Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Excel in Microsoft 365, and 2021. 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, Excel in Microsoft 365, and 2021

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, Excel in Microsoft 365, and 2021. 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. ...

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What is 5 - 3?

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 ;-)

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