How to Split a Cell in Excel 2007

By Matt Skaggs

Updated September 15, 2017

Microsoft Excel is a tool for organizing and presenting data.
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Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program with plenty of features for laying out and analyzing data. The basic information displayed in Excel is in cells, the series of blocks that contain data. You have plenty of formatting options for Excel, including merging and splitting cells. Unfortunately Excel doesn't have the option for you to split an unmerged cell, but you can split a cell you previously merged.

Open the Excel document that has the cell you need to change.

Click the "Home" tab in the Office ribbon at the top of the screen.

Click on the merged cell you want to split. The button labeled "Merge & Center" in the alignment group is highlighted in orange by default, indicating that you've selected a merged cell.

Click the "Merge & Center" button to split the cell into separate cells.

Tips

To make your document appear to have a split cell, put the data in several cells and then merge the cells above them. You can merge cells by highlighting them and clicking the "Merge & Center" button. You can also split the contents of a single cell across multiple cells if you want. Click the cell, and then click the "Data" tab in the Office ribbon at the top of the screen. Click the "Text to Columns" option in the "Data Tools" group. The "Convert Text to Columns Wizard" opens and steps you through the process of splitting the cell's contents.

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