Merge Cells in Sheets

How to Merge Cells in Google Sheets

Google Sheets is a powerful spreadsheet tool that offers a lot of functionality. While many everyday tasks are relatively intuitive, others can be harder to figure out. If you’re trying to learn how to merge cells in Google Sheets, this guide will show you how to do it.

1) Open A New Or Existing Spreadsheet

In Google Sheets, open a new or existing spreadsheet in which you want to merge cells. If you don’t have a Google account (either free or paid), you’ll need to sign up for one before you can access Google Sheets and other Google Workspace applications.

Open A New Or Existing Spreadsheet

2) Select The Cells You Want To Merge

You can merge any two or more adjacent cells in Google Sheets. Select the cells you wish to merge.

Select The Cells You Want To Merge

3) Click The Merge Button On The Toolbar

Clicking the Merge button on the Google Sheets toolbar will perform a horizontal cell merge, which is the default merge type.

Click The Merge Button On The Toolbar

If you click the small arrow immediately to the right of the Merge icon, you will see a dropdown menu with additional merge options:

Merge Types

Merge all: Merges the selected cells into one single cell.

Merge horizontally: Merges selected cells into a single column but leaves rows intact.

Merge vertically: Merges selected cells into a single row but leaves columns intact.

Unmerge: Unmerges the selected cells.

You can also access the merge menu from within the Format menu:

Google Sheets Merge Cells Format Menu

Why Is Merging Cells Useful?

Merging cells in Google Sheets is helpful for labeling groups of data, adding graphical elements, and organizing information.

PRO TIP

After using the Insert > Image > Image in cell option, you can merge the cell containing the image with adjacent cells to expand the size of the image.

Hold the shift key to select a range that includes the image. Then, click the merge button:

Merge Cells to Grow Image

Merging cells is also a helpful alternative to resizing columns and rows individually. Resizing rows and columns can cause problems in complex spreadsheet layouts because it affects all the cells in a given row or column.

To learn more about Google Workspace and how to implement it in your business, please get in touch with us.

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