Merge cells in two columns

[Martin ©¿&]

Hi
I have a worksheet with 300 rows
Is it possible to merge 2 adjacent columns in one or two steps without
having to do each one individually
I've just learnt how to merge 2 adjacent cells to include all data in
the range in the merged cell

column C has the word 'dist' in ever row
column D has numbers from 1 to 14 in random order

using Excel 2000

Martin
©¿©¬

[swatsp0p]

When you say "merge" I believe you want to "join" or "concatenate" the data in two cells together.

Assuming your data is in D1 and E1, in F1 enter this:

=D1&E1

The result will be, per your example:

dist14

Of course, if you wanted a space (or comma, etc.) between the two bits of data, use additional '&' to add " " space or "," comma, etc. e.g.

=D1&", "&E1

shows dist, 14

HTH

[Jim Rech]

>>Is it possible to merge 2 adjacent columns in one or two steps without
having to do each one individually

Easy, but you have to use a menu choice not shown on the menus by default.
Do a View, Toolbars, Customize and click the Commands tab. Select the
Format category and in the right list box find "Merge Across". Drag this up
to say your Format menu, which will open automatically and you can drop it
wherever you want in it. Then close Customize.

Now you can select a range like G1:H10 and click this command to get 10
merged cells.


--
Jim Rech
Excel MVP
<Martin ©¿©¬ @mandeREMOVETHIS.plus.com> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
| Hi
| I have a worksheet with 300 rows
| Is it possible to merge 2 adjacent columns in one or two steps without
| having to do each one individually
| I've just learnt how to merge 2 adjacent cells to include all data in
| the range in the merged cell
|
| column C has the word 'dist' in ever row
| column D has numbers from 1 to 14 in random order
|
| using Excel 2000
|
| Martin
| ©¿©¬
|
|

[Gord Dibben]

Martin

How did you merge two cells and retain data from both the original cells?

You have data in column C and data in Column D say in C1 and D1.

Merging C1 and D1 will give a message that the data in the left cell only will
be retained.

Do you want that?

Jim's idea about the "Merge Across" button will cause a message in every row
of the range selected.

Do you want that?

To retain both cells' data you should add the data to one cell rather than
merge cells.

In E1 enter =C1 & D1 or =C1 & " " & D1


Gord Dibben Excel MVP

On Wed, 02 Feb 2005 18:36:56 +0000, Martin ©¿©¬ @mandeREMOVETHIS.plus.com
wrote:

>Hi
>I have a worksheet with 300 rows
>Is it possible to merge 2 adjacent columns in one or two steps without
>having to do each one individually
>I've just learnt how to merge 2 adjacent cells to include all data in
>the range in the merged cell
>
>column C has the word 'dist' in ever row
>column D has numbers from 1 to 14 in random order
>
>using Excel 2000
>
>Martin
>©¿©¬
>

[Martin &copy;&iquest;&copy;&not;]

On Wed, 02 Feb 2005 16:53:30 -0800, Gord Dibben <gorddibbATshawDOTca>
wrote:
>Martin How did you merge two cells and retain data from both the original cells?
I looked for 'merge cells' in HELP and got:-
Microsoft Excel places only the upper-leftmost data in the selected
range into the resulting merged cell. To include all data in the range
in the merged cell, copy the data into the upper-leftmost cell within
the range. For information about how to copy the data, click .........

>Jim's idea about the "Merge Across" button will cause a message in every row
>of the range selected.

Yeah, i discovered that

>To retain both cells' data you should add the data to one cell rather than
>merge cells.
>In E1 enter =C1 & D1 or =C1 & " " & D1

That's great Gord - did the job
=C1 & " " & D1 was better as I needed some space between Dist and
numbers

One learns something new every day
Regards
Martin
©¿©¬