XL2000: Odd Behavior Using Format Painter and Merged Cells

In Microsoft Excel 2000, if you use the Format Painter tool to apply the Merged Cell formatting to a range of cells, values within that range may disappear suddenly and without warning.

This will occur if all the following conditions are true:

�	You merged a group of cells within a worksheet. -and-
�	You then selected another cell within the worksheet and clicked the Format Painter tool. -and-
�	Cells to the right of and/or below the selected cell contained values.

If this problem occurs, you can either:

�	Click Undo Paste Special on the Edit menu. -or-
�	Follow these steps: 1. Click the Merge and Center tool on the Formatting toolbar. 2. Click OK. Then, click Cancel twice.

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

Microsoft Excel 2000 includes a feature that allows you to merge a group of cells into a single cell. To merge a group of cells:

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

Normally, when you merge a group of cells, if more than one of the cells being merged contains values, you receive the following error message: If you merge a group of cells, click the Format Painter tool, and then click another similarly sized group of cells, the cells, starting at the selected cell, are merged. You do not receive the error message mentioned earlier.

IMPORTANT: Values in those cells are lost unless you Undo the Paste Special.

For more information about merging cells in Microsoft Excel, click Microsoft Excel Help on the Help menu, type merging, cells in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic.