Section 71. Combine Multiple Cells into One

71. Combine Multiple Cells into One

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

58 Freeze Row and Column Headers

61 Center a Heading over Multiple Columns

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. This gives you greater flexibility when formatting a sheet for attractiveness or easier readability.

71. Combine Multiple Cells into One

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 61 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.

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 from the menu. Calc merges the cells into a single cell for you. You can now format the merged cell just as you would a single cellchanging its alignment, size , or the formatting of the textto create a bolder or more useful label. NOTES 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. The Merge button on the Standard toolbar is a toggle button; clicking it once requests the merge, clicking it again removes the merge.
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 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 , or simply click the Merge Cells button on the Standard toolbar.