XL97: Pasting Merged Cells May Clear Cells in Destination

ID: Q157028

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Excel 97, when you copy a merged cell, select a destination cell or range of cells, and then use the Paste Special command, Microsoft Excel may paste the contents of the merged cell into a single cell in the destination range. In addition, Microsoft Excel may fail to apply the merged cell format to the destination cell range.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs when the following conditions are true:

You select a merged cell that contains data.
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    -and-
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You click Copy the Edit menu, select a destination cell or cell range, and click Paste Special on the Edit menu.
```
    -and-
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You select Values or Formulas in the Paste Special dialog box, and click OK.

NOTE: When you use Paste Special to paste formulas or values in a merged cell, Microsoft Excel pastes the same values that would result had you removed the merge format from the cells before you copied them.

STATUS

This behavior is by design in Microsoft Excel 97.

MORE INFORMATION

A merged cell is created by combining two or more selected cells. Microsoft Excel places the upper-leftmost data in the selected range into the resulting merged cell. The upper-left cell contains the value or formula for the merged cells. For example, if you merge cells A1:A3, A1 contains the value of the merged cell, and cells A2 and A3 are empty.

REFERENCES

For more information about merging worksheet cells, click the Index tab in Microsoft Excel 97 Help, type the following text

   merging, cells

and then double-click the selected text to go to the "Merge cells to span several columns or rows" topic.

Additional query words: XL98 blank

Keywords          : xlformat xlformula 
Version           : WINDOWS:97
Platform          : WINDOWS

Last Reviewed: November 5, 1998