How to merge rows in Excel without losing data

The tutorial shows how to safely merge rows in Excel in 4 different ways: merge multiple rows without losing data, combine duplicate rows, repeatedly merge blocks of rows, and copy matching rows from another table based on one or more common columns.

Merging rows in Excel is one of the most common tasks that all of us need to perform every now and then. The problem is that Microsoft Excel does not provide a reliable tool to do this. For example, if you try to combine two or more rows using the built-in Merge & Center button, you will end up with the following error message:

"The selection contains multiple data values. Merging into one cell will keep the upper-left most data only."
The selection contains multiple data values. Merging into one cell will keep the upper-left most data only.

Clicking OK will merge the cells but only keep the value of the first cell, all other data will be gone. So, obviously we need a better solution. This article describes several methods that will let you merge multiple rows in Excel without losing any data.

How to merge rows in Excel without losing data

The task: you have a database where each row contains certain details such as product name, product key, customer name and so on. What we want is to combine all the rows related to a particular order like shown below:
Multiple rows to be merged into one.

There are two ways to achieve the desired result:

Merge multiple rows using formulas

To joint the values from several cells into one, you can use either the CONCATENATE function or concatenation operator (&). In Excel 2016 and higher, you can also use the CONCAT function. Any way, you supply cells as references and type the desired delimiters in-between.

Merge rows and separate the values with comma and space:

=CONCATENATE(A1,", ",A2,", ",A3)

=A1&", "&A2&", "&A3

Merge rows with spaces between the data:

=CONCATENATE(A1," ",A2," ",A3)

=A1&" "&A2&" "&A3

Combine rows and separate the values with commas without spaces:

=CONCATENATE(A1,A2,A3)

=A1&","&A2&","&A3

In practice, you may often need to concatenate more cells, so your real-life formula is likely to be a bit longer:

=CONCATENATE(A1,", ",A2,", ",A3,", ",A4,", ",A5,", ",A6,", ",A7,", ",A8)

CONCATINATE formula to combine values from multiple rows into a single cell.

Now you have several rows of data merged into one row. But your combined rows are formulas. To convert them to values, use the Paste Special feature as described in How to replace formulas with their values in Excel.

Combine rows in Excel with Merge Cells add-in

The Merge Cells add-in is a multi-purpose tool for joining cells in Excel that can merge individual cells as well as entire rows or columns. And most importantly, this tool keeps all the data even if the selection contains multiple values.

To merge two or more rows into one, here's what you need to do:

  1. Select the range of cells where you want to merge rows.
  2. Go to the Ablebits Data tab > Merge group, click the Merge Cells arrow, and then click Merge Rows into One.
    Merge multiple rows into one.
  3. This will open the Merge Cells dialog box with the preselected settings that work fine in most cases. In this example, we only change the separator from the default space to line break, as shown in the screenshot below:
    Specify how you want to merge rows and choose the delimiter.
  4. Click the Merge button and observe the perfectly merged rows of data separated with line breaks:
    Merged rows separated with line breaks

How to combine duplicate rows into one (keeping unique values only)

The task: you have some Excel database with a few thousand entries. The values in one column are essentially the same while data in other columns are different. Your goal is to combine data from duplicate rows based on a certain column, making a comma separated list. Additionally, you may want to merge unique values only, omitting duplicates and skipping empty cells.

The screenshot below shows what we are trying to achieve.
Combine data from duplicate rows into one row.

The prospect of finding and merging duplicate rows manually is definitely something you'd want to avoid. Meet the Merge Duplicates add-in that turns this time-consuming and cumbersome chore into a quick 4-steps process.

  1. Select the duplicate rows you want to merge and run the Merge Duplicates wizard by clicking its button on the ribbon.
    Run the Merge Duplicates tool.
  2. Make sure your table is selected correctly and click Next. It is wise to keep the Create a backup copy option checked, especially if you are using the add-in for the first time.
    Run the Merge Duplicates wizard.
  3. Select the key column to check for duplicates. In this example, we select the Customer column because we want to combine rows based on customer name.

    If you want to skip empty cells, be sure to select this option and click Next.
    Select the key column by which you want to combine duplicate rows.

  4. Choose the columns to merge. In this step, you select the columns whose data you want to combine data and specify the delimiter: semicolon, comma, space, line break, etc.

    Two additional options in the upper part of the window let you:

    • Delete duplicate values while combining the rows
    • Skip empty cells

    When done, click the Finish button.
    Select the columns whose data you want to combine.

In a moment, all the data from duplicate rows are merged into one row:
Data from duplicate rows are merged into one row

How to repeatedly merge blocks of rows into one row

The task: you have an Excel file with information about the recent orders and each order takes 3 lines: product name, customer name and date of purchase. You would like to merge every three rows into one, i.e. repeatedly merge the blocks of three rows.

The following image show what we are looking for:
Repeatedly merge blocks of three rows in Excel.

If there are only few entries to be combined, you can select each 3 rows and merge each block individually using the Merge Cells add-in. But if your worksheet contains hundreds or thousands of records, you will need a faster way:

  1. Add a helper column to your worksheet, column C in our example. Let's name it BlockID, or whatever name you like.
  2. Insert the following formula in C2 and then copy it down the column by dragging the fill handle:

    =INT((ROW(C2)-2)/3)

    Where:

    • C2 is the topmost cell in which you enter the formula
    • 2 is the row where the data starts
    • 3 is the number of rows to be combined in each block

    This formula adds a unique number to each block of rows, as shown in the screenshot:
    A unique number is added to each block of rows to be merged.
    How this formula works: The ROW function extracts the row number of the formula cell, from which you subtract the number of the row where your data start, so that the formula starts counting from zero. For example, our data start in the 2nd row, so we subtract 2. If your data start, say, in row 5, then you will have ROW(C5)-5. After that, you divide the above equation by the number of rows to be merged and use the INT function to round the result down to the nearest integer.

  3. Well, you've done the main part of the work. Now you just need to merge the rows based on the BlockID For this, we will be using the already familiar Merge Duplicates wizard that we utilized for combining duplicate rows:
    • In step 2, choose BlockID as the key column.
    • In step 3, select all the columns you want to merge and pick line break as the delimiter.

    Merging blocks of rows in Excel.
    In a moment, you will have the desired result:
    Every 3 rows are merged into one.

  4. Delete the Block ID column since you don't need it any longer and you are done! A funny thing is that we've needed 4 steps again, like in the two previous examples :)

How to merge matching rows from 2 Excel tables without copying / pasting

Task: you have two tables with a common column(s) and you need to merge matching rows from those two tables. The tables may be located in the same sheet, in two different spreadsheets or in two different workbooks.

For example, we have sales reports for January and February in two different worksheets and want to combine them into one. Mind you, each table may have a different number of rows and different order of products, therefore simple copy/pasting won't work.
Merge matching rows from two tables.

In this case, the Merge Two Tables add-in will work a treat:

  1. Select any cell in your main table and click the Merge Two Tables button on the Ablebits Data tab, in the Merge group:
    Run the Merge Two Tables tool.
    This will run the add-in with your main table preselected, so in the first step of the wizard you simply click Next.
  2. Select the second table, i.e. the lookup table containing the matching rows.
    Select the second table containing the matching rows.
  3. Choose one or more column columns that exist in both tables. The key columns should contain only unique values, like Product ID in our example.
    Choose one or more key columns.
  4. Optionally, select the columns to update in the main table. In our case, there are no such columns, so we just click Next.
  5. Choose the columns to add to the main table, Feb sales in our case.
    Choose the matching columns to add to the main table.
  6. In the final step, you can select additional options depending on how exactly you want to merge data, and click the Finish button. The screenshot below shows the default settings, that work just fine for us:
    Select additional options to merge your tables.

Allow the add-in a few seconds for processing and review the result:
Matching rows from two tables are merged.

How can I get these merging tools for Excel?

All of the add-ins discussed in this tutorial, plus 70+ other time-saving tools, are included in our Ultimate Suite for Excel. The add-ins work with all versions of Excel 2019, Excel 2016, Excel 2013, Excel 2010 and Excel 2007.

Hopefully, you can now merge rows in your Excel sheets exactly the way you want them. If you have not found a solution for your specific task, just leave a comment and we will try to figure out a way together. Thank you for reading!

Available downloads

Ultimate Suite 14-day fully-functional version (.exe file)

Table of contents

108 comments

  1. Goodday

    question; i have an excel spreadsheet with daily sales of three mths and nine stores ,i will like to place this document into one sheet for nine stores so i can be able to see what what the stores sold by week.

  2. I have this date in excel sheet more then 300 entry, i want only column b date merge two row in one row, how to do this please any suggestion.

    Date  Particulars
    -----------------------------------------------------
    03/04/2023 Surplus Margin Received
    from SMTF
    05/04/2023 Cash Margin Transferred
    to SMTF
    06/04/2023 Money PayoutS
    06/04/2023 Surplus Margin Received
    from SMTF
    10/04/2023 BG DP BILL AMOUNT DEBITE
    D FOR DP ID 120333001009
    6354
    10/04/2023 Surplus Margin Received
    from SMTF
    11/04/2023 Cash Margin Transferred
    to SMTF
    12/04/2023 BEING DP BILL AMT RECD F
    ROM BROKING FOR DP CLIEN
    T CODE N10205593 & BROK
    CODE 10910089
    12/04/2023 Cash Margin Transferred
    to SMTF
    13/04/2023 BEING DP BILL AMT RECD F
    ROM BROKING FOR DP CLIEN
    T CODE N10205593 & BROK
    CODE 10910089

    • Hi! Have you tried the ways described in this blog post? If they don’t work for you, then please describe your task in detail, give an example of the desired result.

  3. I have below data (Data Source) in sheet1.
    C D E F G H I J
    1 Depart Arrive Depart Arrive Airline Airline Total Duration Stopover
    2 10:00 (BOM) 18:10 (DEL) 12:20 (DEL) + 1 05:30 (ICN) ABC AIR (AB 909) A2Z Air (2Z 668) 16h DEL5h 50m
    3 11:45 (BOM) 23:00 (SIN) 19:50 (SIN) + 1 06:20 (ICN) RST Air (ST 406) A2Z AIR (2Z 752) 15h 05m SIN3h 10m
    4 13:15 (BOM) 23:20 (KUL) 21:05 (KUL) + 1 06:50 (ICN) MNO Air (MO 275) KLN AIR (KN 672) 14h 05m KUL2h 15m
    5 13:15 (BOM) 23:30 (KUL) 21:05 (KUL) + 1 07:10 (ICN) MNO Air (MO 275) MNO Air (MH 66) 14h 25m KUL2h 25m

    In Sheet2 i have extracted data from Data Source File as below

    A B C D E F G H I
    1 Flt No Days of Ops FPW From To Dep Arr Transit Flying Time
    2 AB 909 M-W-F-- 3 BOM DEL 10:00 12:20 5h 50m 16h
    3 2Z 668 DEL ICN 18:10 05:30

    Here's how i have extracted the data in sheet2

    Column A Formula: MlD(Sheet1!G2,SEARCH("(",Sheet1!G2)+1,SEARCH(")",Sheet1!G2,SEARCH(",Sheet1!G2)+1)-SEARCH("(",Sheet1!G2)-1)
    Column B Formula: =CONCATENATE(Sheet1!L2,Sheet1!M2,Sheet1!N2,Sheet1!O2,Sheet1!P2,Sheet1!Q2,Sheet1!R2,)
    Column C Formula: =Sheet1!S2
    Column D Formula =MlD(Sheet1!C2,8,3)
    Column E Formula =MlD(Sheet1!E2,8,3)
    Column F Formula: =LEFT(Sheet1!C2,5)
    Column G Formula: =LEFT(Sheet1!E2,5)
    Column H Formula: =RlGHT(Sheet1!J2,6)
    Column I Formula: =RlGHT(Sheet1!I2,6)

    My question is when i copy formula from 2nd and 3rd row in output file and paste in fourth row it gives result of 4th row data of data file i.e shhet1.

    But I need the data of 3rd row of Data file i.e sheet1.

    Is it possible to achieve this.

    Regards/Irfan

      • Thanks Alexander for your reply

        Kindly give me an example how to use reference in this case.

        Again i would like to clarify when i copy formula from 2nd and 3rd row in sheet2 and paste in fourth and fifth row it gives result of 4th row data of data file i.e sheet1.

        But I need the data of 3rd row of Data file i.e sheet1. (When I copy 2 & 3 row and paste in 4 & 5 row row reference should move only 1 row instead of two)

        for your reference data as below for your understanding

        I have below data (Data Source) in sheet1.
        C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J
        1 | Depart | Arrive | Depart | Arrive | Airline | Airline | Total Duration | Stop Over
        2 | 10:00 (BOM) | 18:10 (DEL) |12:20 (DEL) + 1 | 05:30 (ICN) | ABC AIR (AB 909) |A2Z Air (2Z 668) | 16h | DEL5h 50m
        3 |11:45 (BOM) | 23:00 (SIN) | 19:50 (SIN) + 1 | 06:20 (ICN) | RST Air (ST 406) | A2Z AIR (2Z 752) | 15h 05m | SIN3h 10m
        4 | 13:15 (BOM) | 23:20 (KUL) | 21:05 (KUL) + 1 | 06:50 (ICN) | MNO Air (MO 275) | KLN AIR (KN 672) | 14h 05m | KUL2h 15m
        5 | 13:15 (BOM) | 23:30 (KUL) |21:05 (KUL) + 1 | 07:10 (ICN) | MNO Air (MO 275) | MNO Air (MH 66) | 14h 25m | KUL2h 25m

        In Sheet2 i have extracted data from Data Source File as below

        A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I
        1 | Flt No | Days of Ops | FPW | From | To | Dep | Arr | Transit | Flying Time
        2 | AB 909 | M-W-F-- | 3 | BOM | DEL | 10:00 | 12:20 | 5h 50m | 16h
        3 | 2Z 668 | | | DEL | ICN | 18:10 | 05:30

        Here's how i have extracted the data in sheet2

        Column A Formula: MlD(Sheet1!G2,SEARCH("(",Sheet1!G2)+1,SEARCH(")",Sheet1!G2,SEARCH(",Sheet1!G2)+1)-SEARCH("(",Sheet1!G2)-1)
        Column B Formula: =CONCATENATE(Sheet1!L2,Sheet1!M2,Sheet1!N2,Sheet1!O2,Sheet1!P2,Sheet1!Q2,Sheet1!R2,)
        Column C Formula: =Sheet1!S2
        Column D Formula =MlD(Sheet1!C2,8,3)
        Column E Formula =MlD(Sheet1!E2,8,3)
        Column F Formula: =LEFT(Sheet1!C2,5)
        Column G Formula: =LEFT(Sheet1!E2,5)
        Column H Formula: =RlGHT(Sheet1!J2,6)
        Column I Formula: =RlGHT(Sheet1!I2,6)

        • Hi! If you copy a formula from row 2 to row 4, it will reference row 4, not row 3 as you want. This is how copying works in Excel.

  4. I have the following group of data in excel:
    Location
    ID
    Name
    Grade
    Subject
    Cred Term
    Doc #
    Eff Beg
    Eff end

    Some ID's have multiple lines as they have multiple certifications. I would like to merge all certifications into one line by ID.

    I currently have Ablebits software.

    • Hi!
      Use Ablebits Data - Merge Duplicates.
      Step 1. Select your table.
      Step 2. Choose key columns - select ID column
      Step 3. Choose columns with the values to merge - select all other cloumns or only some of the columns whose data needs to be merged
      You can also read the detailed instructions for the Merge Duplicates tool here: How to combine duplicate rows in Excel.
      I hope I answered your question. If something is still unclear, please feel free to ask.

  5. Hi!! Thank you for helping people find solutions! How do I merge duplicate rows (of customers) info into one row with the customers info in multiple columns?

    Like Customer one came into the store on dates (data in each row in separate columns) so each customer only has 1 row instead of 5 rows.

    My end goal is to have Customer 1 in one row with all of their visit dates in one row. Right now, there Visit dates are on their own row (but in different columns).

    Thx!!

    Kelley

  6. A B C
    Sr Container

    1 MSKU123456
    TCLU123456

    2 TCLU123456

    3 PONU123456
    MIEU123456
    MRSU123456
    MRSU123456

    This is the list of my data i want to merge my container No in Coumn C but Rowas are not Fixed

  7. Hi,

    I have an excel sheet data dump available where there is following information :-
    Column A - Name of Organization
    Column B - License
    Column C - Address

    In some cases, the address in column C is in one row and in some cases multiple rows (for example, 4 or 5). And when address is in multiple rows, the name of the organization and license has been merged, meaning,

    Column A
    Cells A1 to A4 are merged

    Column B
    Cells B1 to B4 are merged

    Column C
    C1 - 1st line of address,
    C2 - 2nd line of address
    C3 - 3rd line...
    C4 - 4th line of address.

    Now manually using the merge cell by row helps with individually merging C1 to C4 cells. However, is there a way I can apply that logic on the entire excel sheet in one attempt ? Thank you for your help.

    Regards,
    Jai

  8. Hi. re: "How to combine duplicate rows into one (keeping unique values only)" section of this article, does Ablebits have a tool that will do the inverse/opposite of this? i.e. delimit the merged values and repeat/duplicate the respective key column value for each of the delimited values?

    • To elaborate a little more, what I am trying to achieve is similar to what is described here:
      http s://stackoverflow.com/questions/44655553/vba-excel-with-thousands-of-rows-how-to-transpose-variable-length-columns-to

      But instead of a macro, I am wondering if Ablebits offers a tool that does the same?

  9. W/O COUSTOMER NAME Colour Count
    01/21 SMART LUNGI GREEN 80/2CD
    01/21 SMART LUNGI YELLOW 80/2CD
    02/21 T.T.I TEXTILE WHITE 20/1CD
    03/21 URMI WEAVING A-109 50/1CTN
    03/21 URMI WEAVING A-151 40/1VISCOSE
    04/21 MOMTEX EXPO WHITE 10/1CD
    04/21 MOMTEX EXPO WHITE 16/1CD

    I need when i write 01 then auto color (green & yellow) show in specific 2 raws like
    01/21 = green yellow or data validation list wise show green and yellow, It depends when i input the data in selected raw then that result show other coloums raws

  10. Hello,
    I have a data set where each item has several duplicates. I need to get rid of the duplicates while summing an amount in each duplicate to get a total for each set of duplicates.

  11. Hello, I have a master spreadsheet and receive a daily updated spreadsheet, both are sorted alpha by name, and each row of names has several columns with data specific to that name (i.e. address/phone #). The master sheet has two additional columns with data entered only on the master. The daily sheet contains new names that are not contained in the master, as well as the names that are in the master. I would like to merge the two spreadsheets without duplicating names, and only bringing in the new names and the data that is contained in all columns of the new names without losing the additional columns/data that are only in the master.

  12. Hello,
    if i have data in multiple row and a few data are in common, I can I merge the rows?

    Example:
    Column A / Column B / Column C
    Row 1. Name1 / Phone1 / Nothing
    Row 2. Name2 / Phone2 / Company2.a
    Row 3. Nothing / Phone1 / Company1
    Row 4. Name2 / Nothing / Company2.b

    The result that i want is:
    Column A / Column B / Column C
    Row 1. Name1 / Phone1 / Company1
    Row 2. Name2 / Phone2 / Company2.a, Company2.b

    Is it possible?

    Thank you

    • that right there is exactly what i need!

  13. Hello I have a spreadsheet with the following info:
    Name City Store 1 Store 2 Store 3
    John New York Missing sign No issue Missing paper
    Mary Chicago No issue Missing Light No issue
    Sam Atlanta Missing paper Missing carpet Missing paper

    I have to generate a report that looks like this:
    Name City Location Issue
    John New York Store 1 Missing Sign
    John New York Store 3 Missing paper
    Mary Chicago Store 2 Missing light
    Sam Atlanta Store 1 Missing paper
    Sam Atlanta Store 2 Missing carpet
    Sam Atlanta Store 3 Missing paper
    Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
    Thank you

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