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.

excel sharing option

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.

clear format in excel

Hopefully the steps above solve your problem.

This Post Has 19 Comments

  1. Ivonne

    Good evening, I just wanna thank you for this answer!!, THANK YOU VERY VERY MUCH, it was VERY helpful. THANKS A BUNCH.

  2. ganesh

    Hii,
    thanks a lot..reason no 1 was identified in my system and it worked after unchecking..!

  3. Aravind

    Good one, very helpfull

  4. Aamir Sohail

    Thanks. Problem solved

  5. ushodaya

    thank you !!
    It worked 🙂

  6. Anthony

    It worked. Thank you

  7. shrishail

    thax a lot

  8. shrishail

    thanx a lot, i worked

  9. Abhishek

    Thank you.. 🙂

  10. Borkat

    Thanks a lot

  11. Lowell

    It work….Thank you.so much.. .

  12. Pandu

    The first option worked. Thanks!

  13. shieda

    tQ,

    problem solved using the first option.

  14. Ganesh Purushothama

    Problem solved by 1st option

  15. Stuart

    That worked!

  16. Mitt Patel

    It Worked. I wasted Two hours in this exercise. Now due to your help it worked.

    1. admin

      I am glad that you were able to fix it 🙂

  17. Hem

    it worked ! thank you

    1. David

      Most welcome 🙂

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