You may come across merged cells while working on your Google Sheets. The cells can be vertically or horizontally merged. It can look something like this.
When you have merged cells in Google Sheets, it’s difficult to sort or filter the data present in those cells. Fortunately, unmerging cells is as easy as merging them.
3 methods to unmerge cells in Google Sheets
- Using the Merge cell icon in the toolbar
- Using the Format option in the menu bar
- Using Keyboard shortcuts
Method 1: Using the Merge cell icon in the toolbar
This method uses the icon present below the main menu bar.
Step 1: Highlight the merged cells.
You can see the range of the merged cells in the Name box once you’ve highlighted the cell.
Here, you can see A1:D1 as the range for the merged cells.
Step 2: Click the dropdown near the merge icon.
After highlighting the cell, find the merge icon. Click the dropdown near it to select the merge type.
Clicking the dropdown icon will open a list of different merge options that you can choose from.
Step 3: Select Unmerge.
Now, select the Unmerge option from the dropdown. This will unmerge the merged cells.
Your merged cells will be unmerged into individual cells.
Method 2: Using the Format option in the menu bar
This method uses the Format option from the main menu bar to unmerge cells.
Step 1: Select the cells to be unmerged.
This is just like the first step in the previous method. Highlight or select the merged cells that you want to unmerge. You can see the range of the selected merged cells in the Name box. Here, you can see B3:B6 as the range of the selected cells.
Step 2: Click Merge cells from the Format option.
In the main menu bar, click the Format option. This will open a dropdown. Find Merge cells from the dropdown.
Step 3: Select Unmerge.
Hover over the Merge cells option to open another dropdown. Click the Unmerge option to unmerge the merged cells.
Now, you can see the vertically merged cells unmerged.
Method 3: Using Keyboard shortcuts
Step 1: Select Keyboard shortcuts from Help.
Click Help from the main menu bar. Now, select Keyboard shortcuts. This will open a dialog box.
Step 2: Enable compatible spreadsheet shortcuts.
At the bottom of the dialog box, you can see a toggle button. Slide to turn it to a green color. This will enable compatible spreadsheet shortcuts.
If it’s already enabled, leave it as it is.
Step 3: Select the merged cell.
Highlight the cell that you want to unmerge. You can see the range of the selected cells in the Name box.
Step 4: Type the keyboard shortcut.
There are two keyboard shortcuts for you to unmerge merged cells. They are:
- Alt + H, M, U
- Alt + O, M, U
You can use one of the above keyboard shortcuts to unmerge merged cells. Once you start typing the keyboard shortcut, you can also see it at the bottom-right as you type.
Now, you can see your merged cells unmerged into individual cells.
Wrapping Up
You don’t have to struggle to filter or sort data in merged cells. You now have three easy methods at your disposal to unmerge merged cells.