How to Unmerge Cells in Excel
Being able to merge and unmerge cells greatly improves reporting and presentation.
By definition, merging cells in Excel is a process where you join two or more adjacent cells into one larger cell.
But sometimes, mistakes happen and you would like to unmerge cells. That is, separate the large cells and break them into their original pieces.
In this article, we’ll show how to unmerge cells in Excel. We’ll also show you key combinations to do it.
Kasper Langmann, Co-founder of SpreadsheetoTable of Content
How to unmerge cells
Let’s say you have this sheet where you mistakenly merged A2 and B2:
As you can see, B2 should say “Sales”.
But before you can do anything, you will have to unmerge the merged A2B2 cell first.
To do so, make sure the merged cell is selected. Also, check that you’re in the ‘Home’ tab.
Under the ‘Alignment’ group on the Ribbon, click the ‘Merge & Center’ icon.
If the cell you’re unmerging is merged, the icon will have a gray background like it’s being pressed.
Kasper Langmann, Co-founder of Spreadsheeto
After that, the cell will now break into A2 and B2.
From there, we can now make changes to B2 without affecting A2.
Unmerge cell key combination
There’s a key combination that would let you unmerge a cell without moving your mouse.
Of course, the cell has to be selected first before the unmerging can take place.
Kasper Langmann, Co-founder of SpreadsheetoTake note that ‘unmerge’ doesn’t have a shortcut. This key combination is only the key equivalent of the actions you have to take to unmerge a cell.
- ‘Home’ tab: ‘Alt’ + ‘H’
- ‘Merge & Center’: ‘Alt’ + ‘M’
- ‘Unmerge Cells’: ‘Alt’ + ‘U’
When putting together everything, all you have to do is hold down ‘Alt’ and press ‘H’, ‘M’, and ‘U’.
Wrapping things up…
In a sense, it’s a simple two-step process: select cell and click the icon. That’s it!
Knowing how to unmerge cells is easier than knowing how to open Microsoft Excel for the first time. 😊
Kasper Langmann, Co-founder of Spreadsheeto
Written by Kasper Langmann
Hi, I'm Kasper Langmann👋
I'm the co-founder of Spreadsheeto, a certified Microsoft Office Specialist, and a Microsoft MVP.
With over 10 years of experience, I’ve taught Excel to millions of people worldwide.
I spent over 5 hours researching and writing this tutorial.
Last updated on August 29th, 2024.
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