How to Unmerge Cells in Microsoft Excel: Step-by-Step Guide

Download Article

Learn how to unmerge cells in Excel on PC & Mac

Written by Hannah Dillon

Last Updated: October 28, 2025 Fact Checked

Download Article

Unmerge a Cell

|

Unmerge All Cells in a Sheet

|

Unmerge Cells and Copy Original Values

|

Video

|

Tips

Do you want to unmerge cells in Microsoft Excel? When merging cells, data from adjacent cells combine into a single cell. When you unmerge cells, the data is retained in the top-left/uppermost cell while the cells split. This wikiHow will show you three easy ways to change a merged cell back into two or more standard cells in Microsoft Excel using your Windows or Mac computer.

Ways to Unmerge Cells in Excel

Select the merged cell and open the Merge & Center menu, then click Unmerge Cells.
Press Ctrl+A (Windows)/Cmd+A (Mac) or click the arrow in the upper-right corner of the sheet, then press the green Merge & Center button.
Unmerge the cells, then use a simple formula to fill the blank cells with data.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Unmerge a Cell

Download Article

1
Select the cell(s) you want to unmerge. To select a cell, click on it. If you want to select more than one cell, hold down ⇧ Shift (Windows and Mac) to select multiple cells in a row, or hold down Ctrl (Windows)/⌘ Cmd (Mac) to select non-adjacent cells.^{[1]
X
Trustworthy Source

Microsoft Support
Technical support and product information from Microsoft.

Go to source}
- Merged cells take up two or more columns' worth of space. For example, merging a cell range in the A and B columns would leave you with a cell that spans the A and B columns.
- You can only unmerge a cell that has been previously merged.
2
Click the Home tab. It's at the top of the Excel window. Doing so opens the Home toolbar.
- If you're already on the Home tab, you can skip this step.
Advertisement
Click the drop-down arrow to the right of the Merge & Center button in the "Alignment" section of the toolbar. This will prompt a drop-down menu to appear.^{[2]
X
Research source}
4
Click Unmerge Cells. It's in the drop-down menu. Your cells will be unmerged, and the cells' value will be added to the left-most cell if the cells were merged horizontally, and the top-most cell if the cells were merged vertically.^{[3]
X
Trustworthy Source

Microsoft Support
Technical support and product information from Microsoft.

Go to source}
- If you want to merge cells again, select the cells you want to merge. Click Merge & Center in the Home tab. You can also click the arrow to select Merge Across or Merge Cells.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Unmerge All Cells in a Sheet

Download Article

1
Select all the cells in the sheet. You can do this one of two ways:
- Press Ctrl+A (Windows)/⌘ Cmd+A (Mac).
- Press the triangle in the upper right corner of the sheet (between the row numbers and column letters).
If the Merge & Center button is green, there are merged cells in your document that you can unmerge. If the button is white, there are no merged cells to be unmerged.
This will unmerge all merged cells in your sheet at the same time.^{[4]
X
Research source}

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Unmerge Cells and Copy Original Values

Download Article

You can unmerge these cells one by one, or you can select multiple cells and unmerge them at the same time.
2
Select your cells again. For this step, it's best to select all of the cells you want to copy text over to, though you can do this individually as well.
- To select multiple cells in a row, click one cell, hold down ⇧ Shift, then select the last cell in the series.
- To select multiple non-adjacent cells, hold down Ctrl (Windows)/⌘ Cmd (Mac) and click each cell you want to select, then release the keyboard button.
It's in the Home tab, in the "Editing" subgroup.
This will open a dialog box.
It's in the first column of options, near the bottom.
This will select all of the blank cells in your selection area.
This will create a simple formula for each blank cell to take the value from the cell above it.
On a Mac, press ⌘ Cmd+⏎ Return. Each blank cell will now take the data from the cell above it, which is the cell it was previously merged with.^{[5]
X
Research source}

Expert Q&A

Search

Add New Question

Ask a Question

200 characters left

Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.

Submit

Video

Tips

If you use Excel in a language that reads from right to left, the unmerged value will always go to the right-most cell.

Thanks
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
You cannot unmerge a cell that isn't merged with another cell (or group of cells).

Thanks
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0