Secret Excel hack — merged cell in spill range
A merged cell in a spill range?
That’s not supposed to be possible in Excel — but it is — if you know the secret hack.
In usual circumstances, spill ranges can only have the number of cells that exist within the blue result border. If you attempt to merge two or more cells, a SPILL! error occurs.
However, there’s a bug that lets you bypass this:
- Outside of your spill range, select multiple cells and click the Merge & Center button on the Home tab to create a merged cell.
- Select Format Painter on the Home tab to copy the formatting.
- Select where you want your merged cell to be inside the spill range to apply the formatting.
Voila!
This bug actually comes in handy for certain things, such as the title of my Premier League football table.
Try not to spread the word too much, otherwise the Excel team might cotton on to it. Then they’ll fix it, and that would ruin my single formula solution. 😬☹️🤫
