Open the Excel workbook with the table where you need to combine matching rows. Then open Combine Rows Wizard by clicking on its icon.
When working with the add-in, on the left you can see the step you are on.
You can select your table by clicking the select range icon or by typing its address in the Select your table field manually.
Tip: Before you start Combine Rows Wizard, select a cell in your table and the whole table will be selected automatically.
Note! If you have standard Excel auto filter option switched on, the add-in will match only the visible filtered rows. If you need to work with the entire table, turn the filter off before you run the add-in. If you want to work with some part of the table only, apply auto filter to it and then only the visible rows of your table will be processed and combined.
Click the Next button on the Combine Rows Wizard dialog box to continue.
Key columns are the columns where you have duplicate records. You can select one or more columns for the search.
Tick the checkboxes next to the columns with the duplicated values.
If you have a lot of columns in your table, take advantage of the Select All button and all the checkboxes in the table with the list of columns will be checked. Then you can deselect those you don’t need to match.
The 1st row content column next to Columns shows the 1st item of each column in your table. It can be useful if your worksheet doesn't have headers so you can see what kind of information is in the columns.
On the Select key columns step you can also choose to ignore extra spaces, indicate whether your table has headers or ignore empty cells.
You should tick the Ignore extra spaces checkbox if your data may have some extra leading or trailing spaces. This option will prevent the add-in from missing the duplicate values.
Tip: We always recommend using our free tool Trim Spaces for Microsoft Excel before running the add-ins; it will remove all leading and trailing spaces in your table instead of just ignoring them. You can use this direct link to download and install this free add-in: http://www.ablebits.com/files/get.php?addin=xl-trim-spaces.
It is also possible to indicate if there are header rows in your table. As a rule, the add-in indicates headers automatically. If it doesn't, you can check My table has headers. You can also uncheck this option if you want to include the first row into the merge.
On this step you can choose to skip empty cells. Select the Ignore empty cells option and the add-in will not take them into consideration.
Click on the Next button on the Combine Rows Wizard dialog box to proceed.
If you need to get back to step 1, press the Back button on the dialog box.
On the Select columns to merge step you choose one or more columns with the values that will be joined. You will see a list of columns in the table that were not selected as key columns.
If you have a really big table with numerous columns, you can benefit from the Select All and Unselect All buttons.
Tick the checkbox(es) next to the column(s) with the data you need to merge.
Choose a delimiter that will separate the values that are merged. You can either enter your own delimiter or select it from the predefined options. When you select a column in the list, you can see an arrow next to the name of the column in the Delimiters section.
Click on the arrow and pick the delimiter you need to separate the joined values from the drop-down list. You can choose among semicolon, comma, space or line break.
It is also possible to enter any delimiter of your choice. To do it, click in the Delimiter field next to the column name and type the separator you need.
On this step you can choose to remove duplicate values or skip empty values.
Tick the Delete duplicate values checkbox if the columns with the values you need to merge can contain identical items.
Select the Skip empty values option to avoid merging empty cells which can further result in extra blanks in your spreadsheet.
Then click the Finish button on the dialog box to see the results.
When working with the add-in, on the left you can see the step you are on.
or by typing its address in the Select your table field manually.
Click on the arrow and pick the delimiter you need to separate the joined values from the drop-down list. You can choose among semicolon, comma, space or line break.
It is also possible to enter any delimiter of your choice. To do it, click in the Delimiter field next to the column name and type the separator you need.
