Joining Cells

Joining cells enables you to use the space allotted to multiple cells as if they were one cell. Joining cells is really useful when you want to create a heading row for a spreadsheet or when you want to type explanatory text next to spreadsheet information to create a sidebar of information.

In Figure 8.7, I entered a spreadsheet title into cell A1. As you can see, the title spills over into the space occupied by cell B1. I'd really like to center the title over columns A through E, but, with the information in a single cell, that centering is difficult. I can simulate centering by moving the cell contents to cell C1. But, if I join cells A1.E1, Quattro Pro will treat them as one cell, and I can then easily center the title over columns A through E using the techniques described in the preceding section of this chapter.

Figure 8.7. In this spreadsheet, the title stored in cell A1 spills over into cell B1.

When you join cells that contain data, Quattro Pro deletes all data that does not appear in the upper-left cell.

Tip

If you know you want the information in the joined cell to be centered, click the Center option in the Horizontal Alignment section of the tab as I did.

To join cells, follow these steps:

1.	Select the cells you want to join; for this example, I selected A1.E1.
2.	Open the Format menu and click Selection properties. Quattro Pro displays the Active Cells dialog box shown in Figure 8.8. Figure 8.8. Use this dialog box to join selected cells.
3.	Click the Alignment tab.
4.	In the Cell options area, place a check in the Join Cells check box.
5.	Click OK. Quattro Pro combines the selected cells into one cell. Compare Figure 8.9 to Figure 8.7; notice that the column dividers no longer appear in Figure 8.9. Figure 8.9. Because joined cells act as one cell, no column dividers appear in joined cells.

Tip

If, for some reason, you want to maintain the original cells but you'd like to center the title across several columns, don't enable the Join Cells check box. Instead, select the Center Across Block option in the Horizontal Alignment section of the Alignment tab (refer to Figure 8.8).

You can join cells in a row, in a column, or you can join a range that includes both rows and columns (useful for sidebar information). Whenever you join cells, the row or column dividers disappear from the joined range.