How to Merge Two Columns Without Losing Data in Excel

Since you’re here, you’ve must tried to merge and center two cells to get them combined, but to your surprise, you only got the data in the left cell and right cell data is gone. Even it displayed a warning before merging them, right? To combine two cells we use merge and center but it is used for formatting purposes, hence you only get data in left-upper cell. Its can’t be used to combine data.

Ok. Then question arises how do we combine two columns in excel without loosing any data. It can be done. Let’s just see how.

How to Combine Two Columns in Excel Using Formulas

We all know about the CONCATENATE function of excel. It is used to concatenate two or more strings together. These strings can be in cells. So let’s see an example.

Combine Two Columns In Excel Excel

For this example, we have this sample data. See below image. We need to combine column A and Column B into one to get full name.

To combine First Name and Last Name we will use a helping column. Lets name it Full Name in column C.

Now in C2 write this CONCATENATE formula and drag it down.

=CONCATENATE(A2," ", B2)

CONCATENATE Function in excel combines given arguments into one. Here we are adding first name and last name with an space (“ “) in between them.

Now if you don’t want first name and last name column in sheet then first value paste Full Name Column.

- Select all cell in C column. You can use excel shortcut CTRL+SHIFT+down arrow, if you are in cell C2.
- Copy it using CTRL+C
- Now right click on cell C2 and click on Paste Special or press ALT>E>S>V sequentially.