XL2000: Formats May Not Be Applied to Pasted Merged Cell

When you copy a merged cell and paste it, Microsoft Excel 2000 fails to apply the formatting of the original merged cell to the merged cell you pasted.

This problem occurs when the following conditions are true:

�	You copy one merged cell, and then paste it into another merged cell. -and-
�	The two merged cells are different sizes.

NOTE: This problem does not occur when you copy a merged cell and paste it in a single, unmerged cell or in another merged cell that is exactly the same size as the cell you copied.

To work around this problem, follow these steps:

1.	Click the first merged cell. On the Format menu, click Cells.
2.	Click each tab that contains formatting that is applied to the cell, and change the value of one option on the tab; then, reset the option to the original setting. For example, if the Strikethrough check box has been selected on the Font tab, click to clear the Strikethrough check box, and click again to select the check box. NOTE: If the cell contains more than one type of formatting, perform these steps for each tab that contains the formatting options you selected.
3.	Click OK.
4.	Click the second merged cell.
5.	On the Edit menu, click Repeat Format Cells.

The result is that the second merged cell is formatted exactly as the first merged cell.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

Microsoft Excel 2000 allows you to merge a group of cells into a single cell. To merge a group of cells, follow these steps:

1.	Select the cells that you want to merge.
2.	On the Format menu, click Cells. Click the Alignment tab.
3.	Click to select the Merge cells check box, and then click OK.

When you copy a merged cell, you can paste it into a single cell, which is merged with other cells to produce an identical merged cell, or you can paste the cell into another merged cell.

If you paste the cell into another merged cell, formatting from the first merged cell is not applied to the second merged cell if the merged cells are different sizes.