Merge Or Unmerge Cells In Numbers On Mac - Apple Support

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Numbers User Guide for Mac

• Welcome
• What’s new
• Numbers basics
  • Get started with Numbers
  • Intro to images, charts, and other objects
  • Create a spreadsheet
  • Open or close spreadsheets
  • Personalize templates
  • Use sheets
  • Undo or redo changes
  • Save your spreadsheet
  • Find a spreadsheet
  • Delete a spreadsheet
  • Print a spreadsheet
  • Change the sheet background
  • Customize your app
    • Change the spreadsheet view
    • Customize the toolbar
    • Show or hide the sidebar
    • Change settings
    • Set a default template
  • Touch Bar for Numbers
  • Use VoiceOver with Numbers
    • Use VoiceOver to create a spreadsheet
    • Use VoiceOver to create formulas and autofill cells
• Add and style tables
  • Add or delete a table
  • Select cells, rows, and columns
  • Add or change rows and columns
    • Add or remove rows and columns
    • Move rows and columns
    • Resize rows and columns
  • Merge or unmerge cells
  • Change how a table looks
    • Change how table text looks
    • Show, hide, or edit a table title
    • Change table grid colors
    • Use table styles
  • Resize, move, or lock a table
• Add and organize table content
  • Add text and objects to cells
    • Add text to tables
    • Add objects to cells
    • Add stock information
    • Autofill cells
    • Copy, move, or delete cell content
    • Create a snapshot of a table
  • Work with different types of data
    • Format dates, currency, and more
    • Create a custom cell format
    • Add checkboxes and other controls to cells
    • Format tables for bidirectional text
  • Wrap text to fit in a cell
  • Highlight cells
  • Filter data
  • Alphabetize or sort data in a table
  • Organize data into categories
    • Intro to categories
    • Add, edit, or delete categories
    • Change category groups
    • Add calculations to summarize group data
  • Create pivot tables
    • Intro to pivot tables
    • Create a pivot table
    • Add and arrange pivot table data
    • Change how pivot table data is sorted, grouped, and more
    • Refresh a pivot table
    • View the source data for a pivot table value
• Enter formulas and functions
  • Quickly calculate a sum, average, and more
  • Calculate values using data in table cells
  • Use the Formulas and Functions Help
• Create and modify charts
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  • Change the look of text
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    • Add a shadow or outline to text
  • Use paragraph styles
    • Intro to paragraph styles
    • Apply a paragraph style
    • Create, rename, or delete paragraph styles
    • Update or revert a paragraph style
  • Use a keyboard shortcut to apply a style
  • Format characters and punctuation
    • Adjust character spacing
    • Add drop caps
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    • Format fractions automatically
    • Create and use character styles
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• Add images, shapes, and media
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• Position and style objects
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• Use writing and editing tools
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• Share and collaborate
  • Send a spreadsheet
  • Intro to collaboration
  • Invite others to collaborate
  • Collaborate on a shared spreadsheet
  • See the latest activity in a shared spreadsheet
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  • Shared folders and collaboration
  • Use Box to collaborate
• Manage and organize spreadsheet files
  • Use iCloud with Numbers
  • Import an Excel or text file
  • Export to Excel or another file format
  • Reduce the spreadsheet file size
  • Save a large spreadsheet as a package file
  • Restore an earlier version of a spreadsheet
  • Move a spreadsheet
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  • Password-protect a spreadsheet
  • Create and manage custom templates
  • Transfer spreadsheets between devices
    • Transfer spreadsheets with AirDrop
    • Transfer spreadsheets with Handoff
    • Transfer spreadsheets with the Finder
• Keyboard shortcuts
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• Copyright

Merging table cells combines adjacent cells into a single cell. Unmerging cells that were previously merged retains all the data in the new top-left cell.

Here are some restrictions:

• You can’t merge nonadjacent cells or cells from different areas of the table—for example, cells from the body and the header.

• You can’t merge columns or rows.

• You can’t split a cell. If a cell has never been merged with another cell, it can’t be unmerged.

Note: You can’t use forms for tables with merged cells. Forms in a Numbers for iPhone or iPad spreadsheet are hidden when you open the spreadsheet in Numbers for Mac. In Numbers for Mac, merging cells in a table linked to a form may clear the form.

Merge cells

1. Go to the Numbers app on your Mac.

2. Open a spreadsheet, then select two or more adjacent cells.

3. Control-click the cells, then choose Merge Cells.

   Note: If the Merge Cells command is dimmed, you might have selected entire columns or rows, or a header cell and a body cell, which can’t be merged, even if they’re adjacent.

These are the results of merging cells:

• If only one of the cells contains content prior to merging, the merged cell retains the content and formatting of that cell.

• If multiple cells contain content before merging, all the content is retained, but cells with a specific data format, such as numbers, currency, or dates, are converted to text.

• If a fill color is applied to the top-left cell, the merged cell takes on the fill color.

• If you used a form to enter data into a table, you can’t merge any of the cells in the table.

Unmerge cells

1. Go to the Numbers app on your Mac.

2. Open a spreadsheet, Control-click the cells, then choose Unmerge Cells.

   All of the content from the previously merged cell appears in the first unmerged cell. The newly created cells take on the formatting and fill color of the previously merged cell.

Note: Merged cells are treated specially in formulas:

• To refer to the cell directly in a formula, use the address of the merged cell’s top-left corner (for example, C3).

• You can’t include only part of a merged cell in a cell range that’s used in a formula.

• If you refer to a cell in a formula and then merge the cell with cells outside the formula’s intended range, the formula may result in an error.

See alsoFormat dates, currency, and more in Numbers on MacChange table gridlines and colors in Numbers on Mac Previous Resize rows and columns Next Change how table text looks Helpful? Yes No Character limit: 250 Please don’t include any personal information in your comment. Maximum character limit is 250. Submit Thanks for your feedback.