Batch Merge Cells

I am looking to merge a lot of cells into two cells on each row.

My columns are:

Month, Day, Year, Hour, Minute.


I have over 300 rows that this data is in.

I want to merge Month, Day, and Year into one column called "Date".

I then want to merge Hour and Minute into one coumn called "Time".

Is there a way to do this without having to go to each cells I want to merge, highlight them, right click and merge cells 300 times?


Thanks for your help.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.3)

Posted on Jun 29, 2011 10:21 PM

Reply
3 replies

Jun 29, 2011 11:07 PM in response to spaz926

Before starting this, you might want to take a look at Chapter 3, Date and Time Functions, in the iWork Formulas and functions User Guide. You can download the guide via the Help menu in Numbers. You'll also want to see Formatting Date and Time values in the Numbers '09 User Guide, available in the same location.


In general, I would avoid splitting or merging cells in Numbers.


The easiest method of combining these columns might be to add two new columns, then enter a formula to concatenate the contents of the MDY columns in one and a formula to concatenate the HM values in the second. An example of one of the formulas in listed below.


Copy the result, then go Edit > Paste Values to replace the formula with the concatenated values.


Repeat for the H and M columns.


Then delete the old columns.


If your MDYHM data is in columns B, C, D, E, F the formula for the Date column will be =B&"/"&C&"/"&D


Be aware that the results in each case will be a text value, and can't be used in calculations.


If you want actual Date and time values, check the F&F guide, and post a reply if you need further assistance.


Regards,

Barry

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Batch Merge Cells

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