Excel Merge and Center Icon is Grayed Out, Not Functional

Question:

All of a sudden my Excel’s Merge and Center icon became grayed out. I cannot activate it at all. Is there anything I can do to make it work? I am using Excel 2010.

Answer:

There are several reasons which can cause this to happen:

1. Editing option has been turned on for multiple users:
When this happens, several options will be disabled by Excel. If you happen to use Excel mostly at work in a network environment, then there is a possibility that this feature may get turned on by a network user. To disable this feature click on: Review Tab -> Share Workbook Icon -> Uncheck the option shown in the image below.

2. Your worksheet is protected: The Merging and Centering feature may get disabled due to a protected worksheet. To unprotect a worksheet click on: Review -> Protect Sheet icon or Protect Workbook icon and select appropriate options.

3. Clear Formatting: Sometimes special formatting can limit functionalities of cells. To clear all formatting, perform the following: Home Tab -> Towards the right you will see an Eraser type of icon. Click on the icon and select Clear Format.

Hopefully the steps above solve your problem.