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You can combine two or more cells (cell: A box formed by the intersection of a row and column in a worksheet or a table, in which you enter information.) in the same row or column into a single cell. For example, you can merge several cells horizontally to create a table heading that spans several columns.

1. Select the cells you want to merge.

   How?

   Some parts of a table (table: One or more rows of cells commonly used to display numbers and other items for quick reference and analysis. Items in a table are organized into rows and columns.) can only be seen if you display all formatting marks by clicking Show/Hide on the Standard toolbar (toolbar: A bar with buttons and options that you use to carry out commands. To display a toolbar, press ALT and then SHIFT+F10.).

   To select:

   A cell

   Click the left edge of the cell (cell: A box formed by the intersection of a row and column in a worksheet or a table, in which you enter information.).

   

   A row

   Click to the left of the row.

   

   A column

   Click the column's top gridline or border.

   

   Multiple cells, rows, or columns

   Drag across the cell, row, or column.

   Or select multiple items that are not necessarily in order. Click the first cell, row, or column you want, press CTRL, and then click the next cells, rows, or columns you want.

   Text in the next cell

   Press TAB.

   Text in the previous cell

   Press SHIFT+TAB

   The entire table

   In print layout view (Print Layout view: A view of a document or other object as it will appear when you print it. For example, items such as headers, footnotes, columns, and text boxes appear in their actual positions.), click the table move handle , or drag over the entire table.

    Note   You can also select rows, columns, or the entire table by clicking in the table and then using the Select commands on the Table menu, or by using keyboard shortcuts.

2. On the Table menu, click Merge Cells .

 Note   When you merge several cells in a column to create a vertically oriented table heading that spans several rows, click Change Text Direction on the Tables and Borders toolbar (toolbar: A bar with buttons and options that you use to carry out commands. To display a toolbar, press ALT and then SHIFT+F10.) to change the orientation of the heading text. If you change the direction of text and save the document as a Web page, the text will not appear changed when the page is viewed in the browser (browser: Software that interprets HTML files, formats them into Web pages, and displays them. A Web browser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, can follow hyperlinks, transfer files, and play sound or video files that are embedded in Web pages.).