How do I merge two cells without deleting data from the cell?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

I'm highlighting two cells in the same row, hitting format cells, alignment,
merge cells and I'm getting the error message, "The selection contains
multiple data values. Merging into one cell will keep the upper-left most
data only." I want to be able to make the two seperate cells one without
deleting anything and without having to cut and paste.
 
You can't, you can concatenate 2 cells into one by using a formula and
ampersand

=A1&" "&B1


however stay away from merging cells, always cause more problems than what
it's worth and layout wise you can get very close without using it. I have
never seen a power user using merging

Regards,

Peo Sjoblom
 
Thank you so much for sending me this formula. It worked perfectly and did
exactly what I needed. I really appreciate your quick, helpful response.

Sincerely,
Michelle
 
Thanks for sending the link to your page with the macros and instructions.
It's very detailed and thorough. Although I was able to figure it out with
the formula that Peo posted earlier, I appreciate your further information
and will keep it handy for future use.

Sincerely,
Michelle
 
Hi there
But I don't want formulas on the page..
As Well I am merging cell c and d and want the info to stay in d
I will end up copying and pasting to another program

Thanks
Sandra
 
I think I'd insert a new column E and put the formula there.

You could copy that range to the other program.

Or you could convert that new column E to values and delete columns C:D (or just
column D???).
 
Thank you so much for sending me this formula.I really appreciate your
quick, helpful response.

Sincerely,
roshni
 
Dave, Thanks, just found your reply to the other poster -
I have been trying to do this for hours - I knew it had to be possible
thank you thank you
 
Thank goodness for Google <vbg>!
Dave, Thanks, just found your reply to the other poster -
I have been trying to do this for hours - I knew it had to be possible
thank you thank you
Click to expand...
 
This works great. However, what if Im wanting to combine several columns, say
50 or 100 columns worth of data? Id hate to have to enter each cell name in
that formula. Is there a way to specify a range of columns or cells rather
than each one before and after ampersands?
 
Not without a User Defined Function like this one.

Function ConCatRange(CellBlock As Range) As String
Dim Cell As Range
Dim sbuf As String
For Each Cell In CellBlock
If Len(Cell.text) > 0 Then sbuf = sbuf & Cell.text & " "
' for comma-delimited change above " " to ","
Next
ConCatRange = Left(sbuf, Len(sbuf) - 1)
End Function

Usage is: =concatrange(A1:Z1)

Nore: blank cells will be ignored.

For similar methods with code see this search result from google

http://tinyurl.com/6ao6k4


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP
 
Im still stuck on trying to concatenate a wide range of cells. I tried the
formula
=concatrange(K2:KZ2)
but get the following:
#NAME?

When I try to search help for concatrange, nothing comes up, only
concatenate.

Could you clarify more for me please? Thank you.
 
You cannot concatenate a range of cells using the Excel CONCATENATE
function.

Either =CONCATENATE(K2,L2,M2) etc. or =K2&L2&M2 etc.

or a User Defined Function

Function ConCatRange(CellBlock As Range) As String
Dim Cell As Range
Dim sbuf As String
For Each Cell In CellBlock
If Len(Cell.text) > 0 Then sbuf = sbuf & Cell.text & " "
' the " " returns space-delimited text
Next
ConCatRange = Left(sbuf, Len(sbuf) - 1)
End Function

Usage is: =ConCatRange(K2:KZ2)

If you're not familiar with VBA and macros/functions, see David McRitchie's
site for more on "getting started".

http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/getstarted.htm

or Ron de De Bruin's site on where to store macros.

http://www.rondebruin.nl/code.htm

In the meantime..........

First...create a backup copy of your original workbook.

To create a General Module, hit ALT + F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor.

Hit CRTL + r to open Project Explorer.

Find your workbook/project and select it.

Right-click and Insert>Module. Paste the code in there. Save the
workbook and hit ALT + Q to return to your workbook.

In a cell enter the formula as shown above in Usage is:


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP
 
I am trying to do the same thing; merge cells without deleting the data but
when i enter the formula below, a "0" appears. What am I missing?
 
Works perfectly Gord - and please excuse my noobness, but how do I make the
function available to all spreadsheets that I open without have to recreate
the function each time?

Ray D
 
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