Can't merge cells

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Level 1

46 points

Can't merge cells

When trying to merge adjacent cells, sometimes the merge cells option is greyed out. This can be really frustrating as it's not obvious why they can't be merged.

One reason is that one cell is a header cell and the other isn't. Again, it's not clear which cells are header cells, as both rows and columns can be headers and there's nothing obvious in the UI to help you out.

Numbers applies the "header row" and "header column" attributes to entire rows or columns, you can't make a single cell a header or not. To see how many header rows or columns are in the table, select any cell in the table, then in the table menu, select Header rows to see how many rows are marked as header rows (there may be from 0 to 5). Similarly for columns.

If the number of header rows or columns is set to zero, you can merge any adjacent cells.

Note that this may cause the reverse issue: horizontally merged cells (e.g. A1 and B1) may prevent the setting of columns to be headers (but not rows), and vertically merged cells (e.g. A1 and A2) may prevent the setting of rows to be headers (but not columns).

Posted on Nov 22, 2019 11:43 PM

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Answer 1

Barry

Level 9

60,023 points

Nov 23, 2019 2:53 AM in response to ozRob

Merging cells in Numbers is something to be avoided if possible. Merged cells may prevent sorting or filtering the table, and may have other undesired effects.

"…it's not obvious why they can't be merged.

One 'obvious' reason is the one you state immediately following the comment above:

"One reason is that one cell is a header cell and the other isn't.

Numbers makes no provision for 'individual' header cells. You can choose to have up to five Header rows and up to five Header columns (and up to five Footer rows) on each table in a Numbers document.

"Again, it's not clear which cells are header cells, as both rows and columns can be headers and there's nothing obvious in the UI to help you out. "

The default format for a header row or a header column includes a colour fill in those rows and columns. Non header cells (aka 'body' rows) have no fill, and are transparent. These default format settings can be altered by the persons creating the documents (or creating the templates from which individual documents are made).

Take some time to explore the menus at the top of the screen. This screen shot is from a Numbers version older than the one you are likely using, but the opened menu should be similar:

Note the check mark beside 1 in the submenu for the selected menu item. The 'Main' table, visible to the left, is selected, so the menu applies to that table (and not to the unselected table visible to right of the menu)

'Main' has four rows. At least one row of any table must be a non-header ( 'body' ) row, so the menu permits you to set only 0 to 3 rows as Header rows.

For the most part, the menus are set out n a logical order, and each is well organized.

Regards,

Barry

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Answer 2

t quinn

Level 5

7,063 points

Nov 23, 2019 9:17 PM in response to ozRob

Hi ozRob,

Besides the liabilities of merging cells there is really no reason to do it. When I was tempted to merge cells it was usually to get a certain look. I have found that I can usually get what I want without merging.

Besides setting the verticle borders between cells to "No Border" I unchecked "Wrap Text" and set the alignment to center justified in the Text tab.

Other looks are equally doable.

quinn

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Can't merge cells

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