KutoolsforOffice — One Suite. Five Tools. Get More Done.February Sale: 20% Off

Effortlessly Merge Excel Cells, Rows & Columns—Zero Data Loss Guaranteed

AuthorKellyLast modified

Kutools for Excel offers a powerful Combine Rows, Columns or Cells without Losing Data feature that allows you to quickly merge text across multiple columns, rows, or cells without losing data. Instead of manually concatenating values with formulas (e.g., using “&” or CONCATENATE), the Combine tool streamlines the process with a few clicks, providing flexible options for separators, handling blank cells, and placing results in place or into a new column/row. With this powerful feature, you can quickly process following operations in Excel:

Key advantages of the feature

🚀 Lightning-Fast Bulk Processing

  • Simply select your target range and click a few buttons to merge hundreds or thousands of cells in seconds.
  • Compared to manually using “&” formulas or writing VBA macros, Kutools executes almost instantly—saving you a tremendous amount of time.

👁️ Live Preview—No Coding Required

  • A real-time example pane on the right shows you exactly how “Combine Columns,” “Combine Rows,” or “Merge into Single Cell” will look before you commit.
  • Complete complex text-concatenation tasks without writing a single formula or line of code.

📊 Multiple Merge Modes to Fit Any Scenario

  • Combine Columns: For each row, concatenate text from multiple columns in left-to-right order.
  • Combine Rows: For each column, concatenate text from multiple rows in top-to-bottom order.
  • Merge into Single Cell: Merge every selected cell—regardless of rows or columns—into one continuous block of text.

🔧 Flexible Separator Options—Fully Customizable Output

  • Choose from built-in separators like space, no separator, newline, semicolon, and more with a single click.
  • Enter any custom character or string under “Other Separator” for complete control over how your text is joined.

🎨 Smart Formatting Preservation

  • Check “Use formatted values” to merge dates, currency, and numbers exactly as they appear (for example, “¥1,234.00” instead of “1234”), ensuring your output matches what you see on screen.

🗂️ Original Data: Keep or Remove—You Decide

  • After merging, decide whether to keep the source cells, delete their contents, or merge the cells themselves.
  • Choose the output location—either the current cell or any other cell—so the merged result fits seamlessly into your existing layout.

👍 Easy-to-Use Interface—No Expertise Needed

  • A clear, graphical dialog walks you through every option by name—no cryptic commands or hidden parameters.
  • Unlike formulas (e.g., TEXTJOIN, CONCAT) or complex VBA, Kutools is fully visual and point-and-click. Ideal for users unfamiliar with functions or macros, it dramatically reduces the chance of errors.

Merge multiple columns into one—keep all your data intact

Suppose you have columns A (First Name), B (Last Name), and you want to merge them into column D (Full Name), separated by spaces. To finish this task, please do as this:

  1. Select the data range that you want to combine.
  2. Click Kutools >  Merge & Split > Combine Rows, Columns or Cells without Losing Data, see screenshot:
    click Combine Rows, Columns or Cells without Losing Data feature
  3. In the dialog box, specify the settings as follows:
    1. In the Merge the selected range using the following method section, select Merge Cells by Row.
    2. Specify a separator to delimit the combined contents.
    3. Under Options, decide how to handle the source cells:
      • Keep Source Cell Contents: Keeps the original contents of the source cells unchanged.
      • Delete Source Cell Contents: Deletes the original contents after merging.
      • Merge Source Cells: Merges the selected source cells within the original range and places the combined results directly in the merged cells.
        Note: Available options may vary depending on where the combined result is placed.
    4. Under Place merged values in, select where to output the combined result:
      • Left cell or Right cell: Outputs the combined results directly into the leftmost or rightmost cells within the selected range.
      • Other cell: Outputs the combined results to a specified cell that you select as the destination.
    5. Finally, click OK button.
      specify the options in the dialog box

Kutools instantly concatenates each row’s values from columns A–B into column D, separated by spaces. See screenshot:

combine columns by kutools

Combine multiple rows into a single row—zero data loss

  1. Select cells which you want to merge based on rows as follows, and then apply the utility by clicking Kutools > Merge & Split > Combine Rows, Columns or Cells without Losing Data.
    click Combine Rows, Columns or Cells without Losing Data feature
  2. In the dialog box, specify the settings as follows:
    1. In the Merge the selected range using the following method section, select Merge Cells by Row.
    2. Specify a separator to delimit the combined contents.
    3. Under Options, decide how to handle the source cells:
      • Keep Source Cell Contents: Keeps the original contents of the source cells unchanged.
      • Delete Source Cell Contents: Deletes the original contents after merging.
      • Merge Source Cells: Merges the selected source cells within the original range and places the combined results directly in the merged cells.
        Note: Available options may vary depending on where the combined result is placed.
    4. Under Place merged values in, select where to output the combined result:
      • Upper cell or Lower cell: Outputs the combined results directly into the uppermost or lowermost cells within the selected range.
      • Other cell: Outputs the combined results to a specified cell that you select as the destination.
    5. Finally, click OK button.
      specify the options in the dialog box

Kutools instantly concatenates values from each column into designated cells, separated by spaces. See screenshot:

combine rows by kutools

Combine selected cells from multiple rows & columns into one cell

Combining selected cells—whether they span multiple rows, columns, or both—into a single destination cell allows you to quickly aggregate scattered data. Instantly, Kutools concatenates each selected cell’s content into one location—preserving the original values and formatting—so you can create unified lists, summaries, or labels in seconds.

  1. Select cells which you want to merge based on rows as follows, and then apply the utility by clicking Kutools > Merge & Split > Combine Rows, Columns or Cells without Losing Data.
    click Combine Rows, Columns or Cells without Losing Data feature
  2. In the dialog box, specify the settings as follows:
    1. In the Merge the selected range using the following method section, select Merge into one cell.
    2. Specify a separator to delimit the combined contents.
    3. Under Place merged values in, select where to output the combined result:
      • Current cell: Merges all selected cells into a single cell and uses it as the combined result cell.
      • Merged cell: Outputs the combined result to a specified cell that you select as the destination.
    4. Under Options, the available settings depend on where the combined result is placed:
      • Merge Source Cells
        When Current cell is selected, this option is applied automatically. All selected cells are merged into one cell to display the combined result.
        merge souurce cells
      • When Merged cell is selected, choose how to handle the source cells:
        • Keep Source Cell Contents: Keeps the original contents of the source cells unchanged.
        • Delete Source Cell Contents: Deletes the original contents after merging.
    5. Finally, click OK button.
      specify the options in the dialog box

All cells you selected are combined into one single cell at once, See screenshot:

combine range of cells by kutools

Tips:

1. This utility supports Ctrl + Z undo.

2. Use formatted values: it will keep the formatting of the values after merging the cells. For example, if the value in cell is "100", then you apply cell formatting to this cell and change the "100" into "$100.00 USD", so the shown value in cell is "$100.00 USD". If you checked this "Use formatted values" option, the merged content will be "$100.00 USD"; if unchecked this option, the merged content will be "100'.

Productivity Tools Recommended

Office Tab: Use handy tabs in Microsoft Office, just like Chrome, Firefox, and the new Edge browser. Easily switch between documents with tabs — no more cluttered windows. Know more...

Kutools for Outlook: Kutools for Outlook offers 100+ powerful features for Microsoft Outlook 2010–2024 (and later versions), as well as Microsoft 365, helping you simplify email management and boost productivity. Know more...

Kutools for Excel

Kutools for Excel offers 300+ advanced features to streamline your work in Excel 2010 – 2024 and Microsoft 365. The feature above is just one of many time-saving tools included.

🌍 Supports 40+ interface languages
✅ Trusted by 500,000+ users and 80,000+ businesses worldwide
🚀 Compatible with all modern Excel versions
🎁 30-day full-featured trial — no registration, no limitations
Kutools for Excel RibbonKutools for Excel Ribbon