Microsoft KB Archive/211550

= XL2000: Formatting May Be Lost When Pasting Merged Cells =

Article ID: 211550

Article Last Modified on 9/25/2003

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Excel 2000 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q211550





SYMPTOMS
When you copy a merged cell, select a destination cell or range of cells, and then use the Paste Special command, 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.

-and-


 * You click Copy on the Edit menu, select a destination cell or cell range, and click Paste Special on the Edit menu.

-and-


 * You select Values or Formulas in the Paste Special dialog box, and click OK.

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



MORE INFORMATION
A merged cell is created by combining two or more selected cells. Excel places the upper-leftmost data in the selected range into the resulting merged cell. The value is positioned in the lower-left cell. For example, if you merge cells A1:A3 (assuming all cells contain a value), A3 contains the value of the merged cell (which is the value in cell A1), and cells A1 and A2 are empty.

