4 Ways to Unmerge Cells in Microsoft Excel

Choose one that suits you best

Merging cells in Microsoft Excel is an excellent way to organize data spread across columns or rows. If you decide it’s not working as expected after you merge cells, we’ll show you how to unmerge cells in Excel in various ways.

Note: You can only unmerge cells that you’ve merged. If you want to separate cells that you haven’t merged, check out our tutorial forsplitting cells in Excel.

Use Undo or a Keyboard Shortcut

If you merge cells and immediately realize it was a mistake, you can reverse the action using the Undo feature or a keyboard shortcut in Excel. These options only work when merging cells was the last action you took.

To use the Undo option, select theUndobutton in the Quick Access Toolbar. If you’ve removed this button from the toolbar, you can also useCtrl + Zon Windows orCommand + Zon Mac to reverse the last action.

To use a keyboard shortcut to unmerge cells, select the merged cell(s) and use the combinationAlt + H + M + U. This method only works on Windows but quickly unmerges merged cells in Excel.

Use the Merge Menu in the Ribbon

Another simple way to unmerge cells in Excel isusing the Merge featurein the ribbon. If this is the method you used to merge the cells initially, then it’s a sensible option.

You should then see your cells unmerged as individual cells.

Use the Format Cells Feature

With the Format Cells feature, you can take care of your cells’ borders, alignment, font, and other formatting. You can also use it to merge and unmerge cells.

Use the Find Tool

If you have numerous merged cells in your sheet that you want to unmerge, you canuse the Find toolto locate the cells and then unmerge them. The tool you need to locate merged cells is currently only available on Windows.

Continue this process for all results where you want to unmerge the cells and selectClosein the Find and Replace box when you finish.

Now that you know how to unmerge cells in Excel using various methods, take a look at how to speed up data entry withFlash Fill in Excel.

Sandy Writtenhouse is a freelance technology writer and former Project, Department, and Program Manager. She turned her education, job experience, and love of technology into a full-time writing career. With all sorts of gadgets in her home and her hands, she seeks to help others make life easier through technology.Read Sandy’s Full Bio

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