Merge similar
Location on ribbon: Tab DVD Addin → Group Cells and Rows → Menu Merge cells
Command ID: btnMergeSimilarCells
What it does
The command walks the selection left→right then top→bottom; adjacent cells holding the same value (or a run of empty cells) are collected into one group and merged into a single cell. As soon as a different value appears, the current group is merged and a new one starts.
Use it to tidy repeating columns in bill-of-quantity sheets, rebar schedules or programme tables: instead of "Footing M1" repeated ten times in the Item column, you get one merged cell spanning ten rows.
How to use
- Select the range. To merge down a column, select one column only — a multi-column range is scanned across first, which easily merges into the neighbouring column.
- Click DVD Addin → Cells and Rows → Merge cells → Merge similar.
- The command runs quietly (Excel alerts are suppressed) and merges each group.
- The status bar reports the result, e.g. "Merged 12 groups of cells with identical values".
- Hold ESC to stop early; the group being collected is still merged before the command stops.
Example
A rebar schedule exported from another program repeats the member name in column A:
| Before (A2:A7) | After Merge similar |
|---|---|
| Footing M1 | Footing M1 (merged A2:A4) |
| Footing M1 | |
| Footing M1 | |
| Column C1 | Column C1 (merged A5:A7) |
| Column C1 | |
| Column C1 |
Notes
- Ctrl+Z cannot undo the result — work on a copy when the sheet is an issued acceptance record.
- Empty cells count as "same as the previous value" and are pulled into the running group, so fill any gaps before running the command.
- On merging, Excel keeps only the top-left value of each group (the other values were identical, so nothing is lost).
- Scanning is row-major; on multi-column tables run the command one column at a time for predictable results.
- Cells inside an Excel Table cannot be merged; those groups are skipped silently.
Related
- Merge keep data — merges and concatenates different values instead of collapsing duplicates.
- AutoFit merged — fixes row heights after merging.
- Auto group — build outline groups on the table you have just tidied.