Excel Headings Without Merging Cells

If you’ve ever tangled with merged cells in your Excel spreadsheets, you probably know about the havoc they can wreak on things like sorting or filtering.  Beyond that merged cells can also make the simple act of selecting a range of cells difficult.  I know that button for centering across multiple columns is sitting right up there on your ribbon just begging to be clicked, but here is a better alternative that won’t make you any more crazy than you already are. 😎

Let’s see how you can create multi-column headings to get the same effect without merging any cells.

  1. Type your heading in the left most column you want to center across.
  2. Select the range of cells you want your header to be centered on.
    CenterExcel
  3. Press CTRL + 1 on your keyboard open the Format Cells dialog box.
  4. From the Horizontal drop-down select Center Across SelectionCenterAcrossSelection

And there you go. You have centered your heading without having to deal with all the headaches that come with merging cells. I think you’ll agree that a couple of extra clicks are well worth the effort.

CenterWoMerging

Remember when you go to format your heading, that even though it may not look like it, it is still stored in that original cell on the far left column of the range you centered it across. If you’re having trouble finding it, look up at the formula bar. It will show the true contents of any cell.


Courtesy: Mike Taylor

 

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