Select the cells and press Alt, H, M, C (Home → Merge & Center), one key after another, to merge them into one cell and centre the value. To merge without centring, press Alt, H, M, M (Merge Cells).
To unmerge, select the merged cell and press Alt, H, M, U (Unmerge Cells). Alt, H, M, A is Merge Across, which merges each selected row separately, so a three-row selection becomes three merged rows rather than one block.
Merging keeps only the upper-left value and discards the rest after a warning. If you need the text from every cell, combine it in another cell first with =TEXTJOIN(" ",TRUE,A2:C2) (Excel 2019 or later) or =A2&" "&B2&" "&C2 in older versions.
Merged cells break sorting, filtering and pasting. If a sort stops with “To do this, all the merged cells need to be the same size”, select the whole range and press Alt, H, M, U to unmerge everything in it.
For a centred heading that leaves the grid intact, select the cells, press Ctrl + 1 and on the Alignment tab set Horizontal to Center Across Selection. The text looks merged, but every cell stays sortable and selectable.
Latest Video Tutorial – 10 Excel Keyboard Shortcuts (Probably YOU are NOT Using)
To merge multiple cells in a single cell, you can use the shortcut keys Alt ➜ H ➜ M ➜ M (Merge Cells). When you press this shortcut key, it merges all the cells but only keeps the upper-left value (the value you have in the first cell). It shows you a message that says, “Merging cells only keeps the upper-left value and discards other values”.
And when you click OK, it merges all the cells.
Alt ➜ H ➜ M ➜ M
If you want to unmerge cells, you need to use Alt ➜ H ➜ M ➜ U (Unmerge Cells) for that. And following are some other important shortcut keys related to merging cells.
- Alt ➜ H ➜ M ➜ A: To merge the selected cells in each row separately (Merge Across).
- Alt ➜ H ➜ M ➜ C: To merge cells and center align the value.
- Alt ➜ H ➜ M ➜ M: To merge the selected cells into one cell without centering (Merge Cells).
- Alt ➜ H ➜ M ➜ U: To unmerge the selected merged cells (Unmerge Cells). Pressing Alt ➜ H ➜ M ➜ C on merged cells also unmerges them.
Merge Across vs Merge Cells
When you select a range with more than one row, like A1:C3, Merge Cells and Merge & Center turn the whole range into one cell. Merge Across merges A1:C1, A2:C2 and A3:C3 separately, so you get three merged cells, one in each row. With a single row selected, both give the same result.
Center Across Selection Instead of Merging
Merged cells can cause problems when you sort, filter, or copy data. If you only want a heading to sit in the middle of a few columns, use Center Across Selection instead: select the cells, press Ctrl + 1, go to the Alignment tab, choose Center Across Selection in the Horizontal list, and click OK. The text looks the same, but the cells stay separate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Merge & Center greyed out?
The sheet is protected, you are editing a cell, or the cells are part of an Excel table. Press Esc to leave edit mode, unprotect the sheet, or convert the table to a range first.
How do I merge cells without losing data?
Merging keeps only the upper-left value. To keep everything, first join the values with a formula like =A1&” “&B1 (or TEXTJOIN), and then merge the cells or use Center Across Selection.
Is there a shortcut to merge cells on a Mac?
Excel for Mac doesn’t have the Alt key tips. Use the Merge & Center button on the Home tab, or add it to the Quick Access Toolbar.