Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Combining Columns.

Combining Columns

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 7, 2019)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


There may be times when you have a need to concatenate cells together. For instance, you may have information in three columns, but you want it combined together into the first column of each row. The following macro, StuffTogether, will do just that. It examines the range of cells you select, and then moves everything from each cell in a row into the first cell of the row.

Sub StuffTogether()
    Dim FirstCol As Integer, FirstRow As Integer
    Dim ColCount As Integer, RowCount As Integer
    Dim ThisCol As Integer, ThisRow As Integer
    Dim J As Integer, K As Integer
    Dim MyText As String

    FirstCol = ActiveWindow.RangeSelection.Column
    FirstRow = ActiveWindow.RangeSelection.Row
    ColCount = ActiveWindow.Selection.Columns.Count
    RowCount = ActiveWindow.Selection.Rows.Count

    For J = 1 To RowCount
        ThisRow = FirstRow + J - 1
        MyText = ""
        For K = 1 To ColCount
            ThisCol = FirstCol + K - 1
            MyText = MyText & Cells(ThisRow, ThisCol).Text & " "
            Cells(ThisRow, ThisCol).Value = ""
        Next K
        MyText = Trim(MyText)
        Cells(ThisRow, FirstCol).Value = MyText
    Next J
End Sub

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the ExcelTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2116) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Combining Columns.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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