70 Combine Multiple Cells into One

70 Combine Multiple Cells into One

Sometimes you'll need to merge multiple cells into a single cell . Perhaps you want to pad a label with several surrounding blank cells to add spaces that can't be easily removed from the label.

Before You Begin

57 Freeze Row and Column Headers

60 Center a Heading over Multiple Columns

Not only can Calc merge multiple cells into a single cell, but it can also turn a single cell with multiple values back into multiple cells once again.

TIP

One of the most common reasons to merge two or more cells into a single cell is to center titles over multiple columns (see Center a Heading over Multiple Columns ).

1. Select Multiple Cells
   
   Select the cells that you want to merge into a single cell. Generally, this requires that you select empty cells to the right or to the left of one or more labels.
   
   
2. Request Merged Cells
   
   Select Format, Merge Cells, Define from the menu. Calc merges the cells into a single cell for you.
   
   

   NOTE

   

   If you select cells from two or more rows to merge, Calc merges those cells' contents into a single cell on a single row. Usually, you'll want to merge only adjacent cells from the same row.

3. Merge Cells from Another Row
   
   If you have other cells from a subsequent row that you want to merge into one, continue selecting adjacent cells in each row and merging them from the Format, Merge Cells, Define menu. You might do this, for example, if your spreadsheet uses a multiline title atop the data; by merging the title's cells into a single cell, you can more easily center the title over the data.
   
   
4. Reverse the Merge
   
   To reverse the merge, select Format, Merge Cells, Remove .