How do you combine cells into one in Excel?

To combine cells into one in Excel, you can use the "Merge & Center" feature. Here's how:

1. Select the Cells: Click and drag to select the range of cells you want to merge. Important: Before merging, ensure that only one of the cells in the selected range contains the data you want to keep. Merging preserves the data from the upper-leftmost cell only; all other data in the selected range will be deleted.

2. Merge & Center: Go to the "Home" tab on the Excel ribbon. In the "Alignment" group, click the "Merge & Center" button (or the dropdown arrow next to it).

3. Choose a Merge Option (Optional): The "Merge & Center" button combines the cells and centers the content. If you click the dropdown arrow, you'll see other options:

   • Merge & Center: Combines the selected cells into one cell and centers the content horizontally.
   • Merge Across: Merges cells in each row of the selection.
   • Merge Cells: Combines the selected cells into one cell, but does not center the content.
   • Unmerge Cells: Reverses the merge, separating the merged cell back into individual cells.

Example:

Let's say you have data in cells A1, B1, C1, and D1. You want to merge these into one cell. Assume cell A1 contains the text "Combined Text" and the other cells are empty or contain irrelevant data.

1. Select cells A1 through D1.
2. Go to the "Home" tab, "Alignment" group, and click "Merge & Center."
3. The cells A1, B1, C1, and D1 will now be one cell, and the text "Combined Text" will be displayed in the center of the merged cell. The data from B1, C1, and D1 will be lost.

Important Considerations:

• Data Loss: Excel will only retain the data from the top-left cell in the merged range. All other data in the merged area will be deleted. Be sure to back up any data you need before merging.
• Sorting and Filtering: Merged cells can sometimes cause issues when sorting or filtering data. Consider unmerging cells if you experience problems.
• Alternative: Concatenate function: If you want to combine the contents of multiple cells into one cell without merging the cells themselves, use the CONCATENATE function or the & operator. For example, =CONCATENATE(A1," ",B1," ",C1) will combine the contents of A1, B1, and C1 into a single cell, separated by spaces, without merging the original cells.