Excel Merged Cells Causing Problems? When to Use Them (and When Not To)

Problems Merged Cells Cause

• Can't sort: “This operation requires the merged cells to be identically sized”
• Can't filter: Same error
• Copy-paste breaks: “Cannot change part of a merged cell”
• Formulas get complicated: Merged cells are mostly empty — only top-left has the value
• Fill handle doesn't work: Can't drag to fill merged cell ranges
• VBA/automation breaks: Code has to handle merged cells specially

How to Unmerge Cells

Select the merged area → Home → Merge & Center dropdown → Unmerge Cells

Problem: Unmerging leaves data only in the top-left cell. Other cells become empty.

Fix: After unmerging, select the range → F5 (Go To) → Special → Blanks → type = and press Up Arrow → Ctrl+Enter

This fills all blank cells with the value above them.

Find All Merged Cells

To find merged cells in your workbook:

1. Ctrl+F (Find)
2. Click Options → Format
3. Alignment tab → check “Merge cells”
4. Click Find All

Alternative: Center Across Selection

For centering text across multiple columns without merging:

1. Put text in the leftmost cell only
2. Select the range you want to center across
3. Ctrl+1 (Format Cells) → Alignment
4. Horizontal: “Center Across Selection”

Text appears centered but cells remain separate — sorting and filtering work normally.

Alternative: Adjust Column Width

Instead of merging to fit a long header, make one column wider. Or wrap text within the cell.

When Merged Cells Are OK

Merged cells are acceptable for:

• Report titles (top of page, won't be sorted)
• Section headers in formatted reports
• Print-only layouts

Never merge cells in data ranges that will be sorted, filtered, or used in formulas.

Official Resources

• Merge and unmerge cells — Microsoft's guide
• Format cells — Center Across Selection