If we were to try and sort this table by any of the Products, we would get an error as there are merged columns which breaks the traditional column structure.Īlternative Solution for Merged Cells in Excel.ĭo not despair. This table contains 3 columns merged for 1 row in the table. The result is that column A now includes the 1990 which should be in column B.Ĭonsider the following table of data. Let’s say we now merge the column A and B for row 1, Excel will see the value in the left most column. You can see from the image the SUM formula takes row 1 to row 6. We have totaled these columns using the SUM function. This is because merging cells loses the integrity of columns and rows.Ĭonsider the following. You might also find when you merge cells in Excel, some of your formula might not give you the value you expected. Best practice on spreadsheet accessibility advises against the use of Merged Cells. First, if you are ensuring your workbook is accessible for people of all abilities, merging cells may skew layout to a screen reader and users may be given the information in the wrong context. Pretty and all as you would like your spreadsheets to be, if you merge cells in Excel it can cause many different problems. In this article we are going to look at the types of problems that you will encounter when you use merged cells and of course, a solution too 😊 Why you should not Merge cells in Excel Merging cells in Excel cause problems with sorting and moving data. I beg of you, do not merge cells in Excel One of these is the use of the popular Merge cells in Excel formatting option. However, there are still a few things that you should avoid doing in Excel or stop doing altogether. Thankfully as the years have progresses, so has Excel and many of these problem items have been resolved with updates. Over the years I have seen many things in Excel that have made me go “wow, I won’t do that again in a hurry”.
0 kommentar(er)
