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Excel - Learn How to Merge Cells in Excel Faster - Excel Tutorial - Episode 578

418 views · Published 29 June 2009 · 2:56 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: MrExcel.com · 2009 · Education

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Microsoft Excel Tutorial:  Learn How to Merge Cells in Excel Faster - Excel Tutorial.

Welcome back to the MrExcel netcast! I'm Bill Jelen and today we have a question from Mike in Kansas City. If you have a question for the podcast, you can call and leave a voicemail or send me an email at [email protected]. Mike's question is about merging words in Excel. He has several rows of data with words going across the columns and he needs to join them into a single column. But, there's not always the same number of words in each case. So, he's wondering if there's a faster way to do this.

We all know the CONCATENATE formula, right? =A1&" "&B1 and so on down the line. But, let's be honest, that can get really tedious, especially if you have a lot of words to merge. So, that's not the best way to do it. I suggested to Mike that he could select all the words, copy and paste them into a new spot, and then use the Transpose function. But, that's not the most efficient method either.

Another option is to use the Clipboard task pane. When the Clipboard is shown, you can copy multiple items and then paste them all at once. However, this will paste the words with carriage returns or line feeds in between, which can be frustrating to deal with. You would have to use the CLEAN function to get rid of those unprintable characters. So, that's not the best solution either.

After exploring a few different options, I think the best way to merge all these cells from A1 through G1 into a single cell is to select all the cells at once, copy and paste them into a blank notepad window, and then copy and paste them back into Excel. It's not the fastest method, but it gets the job done. However, if you have a better and faster way to do this, please let me know at [email protected] and we'll feature it in a future podcast.

Thanks for stopping by and watching this netcast from MrExcel. Don't forget to leave your comments and suggestions below and we'll see you next time for more Excel tips and tricks.

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Table of Contents:
(00:00) Introduction
(00:16) Host introduction
(00:32) Need to join data into single column
(00:44) Alternative solution using Paste Special and Justify
(01:00) Another option using View and Task Pane
(01:23) Best solution using Notepad
(02:02) Invitation for faster solution
(02:34) Clicking Like really helps the algorithm

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This video answers these common search terms:
CONCATENATE formula in Excel
Contacting MrExcel for tips on merging cells faster
Faster ways to merge cells in Excel
Merging cells in Excel
Pasting cells in Excel
Pasting with carriage returns or line feeds in Excel
Removing unprintable characters in Excel
Selecting and copying cells in Excel
Transposing data in Excel
Using notepad to merge cells in Excel
Using the Clipboard in Excel
YouTube video on joining columns into a single column

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Mike from Kansas City asks if there is a way to take words from many adjacent cells and merge them into a single cell. Episode 578 shows many approaches to this problem.

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