How to Concatenate in Excel

As a marketer, I spend a lot of my time working with data, and that often means using Excel spreadsheets. If you're anything like me, then you know how powerful Excel can be, but also how frustrating it can be if you don't know how to use it properly. One thing that many marketers need to know how to do is concatenate in Excel, which is a fancy way of saying "combine cells." It may sound complicated, but trust me, it's easier than you think!

What Is Concatenation?

Before we dive into the nitty-gritty of how to concatenate in Excel, let's take a step back and talk about what concatenation actually means. Concatenation is a fancy word for combining things, in this case, it means combining cells in Excel. When you concatenate cells, you are essentially telling Excel to take the values from two or more cells and put them together into one cell.

For example, let's say you have two cells, one with the value "John" and another with the value "Smith." If you concatenate those two cells, the result would be "John Smith."

How to Concatenate in Excel

Now that you know what concatenation is, let's talk about how to actually do it in Excel. There are a few different ways to concatenate cells, but the most common way is to use the CONCATENATE function.

The CONCATENATE function allows you to combine up to 30 different cell values into one cell. To use the CONCATENATE function, you'll need to follow these steps:

1. Select the cell where you want the concatenated value to appear.
2. Type " =CONCATENATE(" into the formula bar.
3. Select the first cell that you want to concatenate.
4. Type " , " (with a space before and after the comma).
5. Select the second cell that you want to concatenate.
6. Repeat steps 4-5 for each additional cell that you want to concatenate. Remember to include the comma and space between each cell!
7. Type " )" and press enter.

For example, if you want to concatenate the values from cells A1, B1, and C1, your formula would look like this:

=CONCATENATE(A1," ",B1," ",C1)

After you press enter, the result will be a combination of those three cells.

Using the "&" Symbol for Concatenation

Another way to concatenate in Excel is to use the "&" symbol. This symbol is a shortcut for the CONCATENATE function and can make your formulas a little easier to read. To use the "&" symbol for concatenation, simply follow these steps:

1. Select the cell where you want the concatenated value to appear.
2. Type " =" into the formula bar.
3. Select the first cell that you want to concatenate.
4. Type " & " (with a space before and after the ampersand).
5. Select the second cell that you want to concatenate.
6. Repeat steps 4-5 for each additional cell that you want to concatenate. Remember to include the ampersand and space between each cell!
7. Press enter.

Using the "&" symbol, our previous example would look like this:

=A1 & " " & B1 & " " & C1

This formula will produce the same result as the previous formula, but it may be easier to read and understand.

Conclusion

Concatenating cells in Excel may seem complicated at first, but it's actually a simple process that can save you a lot of time and hassle. Whether you're a marketer who needs to combine customer names and email addresses, or just someone who wants to concatenate a few cells for a project, the CONCATENATE function or the "&" symbol can help you get the job done quickly and easily.

So don't be afraid to give it a try! With a little practice, you'll be a concatenation wizard in no time.