If you’re sorting data in Excel and it has some cells that are merged, which is not obvious to you at first, you may get the following error: “To do this, all the merged cells need to be the same size.”

When trying to sort your data, merged cells might cause havoc. The problem is that merged cells aren’t always obvious to see. The good news is that it is simple to locate and eliminate any rogue merged cells. Finding these merged cells is easier to locate if you’re using Windows.
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In this article, we will see how to find merged cells in Excel and remove them.
Contents
How to Find Merged Cells in Excel on Windows
You must first locate all merged cells in your data before removing them. Using Excel’s Find and Replace function, is an easy task.
To find merged cells in Excel, do the following:
- Press CTRL + A to select and highlight the cells where you want to look for merged cells.
- In the Home tab, click the Find & Select icon. From the drop-down, click Find.

- Click on the Options button and then click on Format.

- Under the Alignment tab, uncheck Merged Cells. It should contain a checkmark rather than a line. Click OK to confirm the Format settings.

- Click “Find All.”

- All merged cells will be listed at the bottom of the window. Clicking on a result will take you to that cell.
How to Unmerge Cells in Excel on Windows
You’ll need to remove the merged cells in Excel now that we’ve identified them.
To unmerge cells in Excel, do the following:
- Select all the found merged cells by clicking on the top result and pressing CTRL + A.

- In the Home tab, click on the down arrow next to the Merge & Center tool and select Unmerge Cells.

- Your cells are now unmerged.
Conclusion
Congratulation! You have successfully removed all hidden merged cells from your database. Now you can start sorting out your data in excel without the worry of having the program throw an error at you because of a merged cell.