How to Combine (Concatenate) Data from Multiple Rows into One Cell

Combine (Concatenate) Data From Multiple Rows into a List LeadOften, our data comes to us in ways that are better for calculating than they are for reading. One example of this is a standard data table that repeats headers and labels for each row. When we are sorting, alphabetizing, and filtering, this format is incredibly useful. However, when we want to read a summary of the information, these tables are difficult to work with. Sometimes, it is better to have all the options in a table listed in a comma-separated list rather than broken out across many rows. Unfortunately, Excel doesn’t have a simple function to make this possible. Here is a quick set of data manipulation steps that will build a comma-separated list in a single cell from multiple rows of data…

Examine the Data and the Objective

Let’s look at an example data set… In this case, we have a list of all the Makes and Models of cars available in the U.S. for 2014. They are stored in a table with a separate row for each model, so the make of the car is repeated in each row as well.

Data Set

What we want is a single row for each make of vehicle with a list of models after it, separated by commas. It should look like this:

Data Result

The steps that follow will show you how to get to this result.

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Andrew Roberts ThumbnailAndrew Roberts has been solving business problems with Microsoft Excel for over a decade. Excel Tactics is dedicated to helping you master it.

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83 thoughts on “How to Combine (Concatenate) Data from Multiple Rows into One Cell

  1. This helped article me so much! Thank-you for creating this site. Now that I’ve found it I know that I will be visiting quite often. — Janine

  2. You have no idea how much time this just saved me. Hours upon hours as we calculate the duplicate registration for our client’s conference attendees.

    Tricks like these help us clean up our data and provide the clearest picture for our clients. A HUGE thank you!

  3. Thanks so much for sharing this. I was doing this manually for a list of streets and page numbers for a mapbook and this saved me loads of time. Great tutorial!

  4. Hi,

    This is brilliant. I have 2 more layers of complexity in the Model column in the situation I am facing.

    Here, there is only one model for one cell/row. In mine, for say Row 2 – Column A – ACURA, Column B Model is say – ILX, MDX, RLX,
    There may also be repeat Models as well for eg, Row 3 – Column A – ACURA – Column B – Model is MDX, RLX,

    So when I concatenate, I have the value for ACURA as ILX, MDX, RLX, MDX, RLX. – How do I clean that up to just show ILX, MDX, RLX?

    Thanks! I need to send this in by 8 AM EST which I am sure would not be possible but any help would be extremely appreciated!

    – Harish

    1. Hi Harish!

      A couple years late for your deadline, but in case this helps other people, this is what I recommend:

      Before you use this tutorial to concatenate your data into a comma-separated list, you need to break out your data into individual items. You’re basically going to have to reverse this concatenation process until you get your list down to:
      Acura ILX
      Acura MDX
      Acura RLX
      Acura MDX
      Acura RLX

      Other tutorials on the internet may help you with this problem, but I suggest starting with the Text-To-Columns feature of the Data tab in Excel.

      Then, you can use the “Remove Duplicates” feature of the Data tab in Excel to eliminate the extra MDX and RLX lines in your data.

      Finally, you can use this tutorial to get the non-duplicated list to group up again.

      Good luck!
      Andrew

  5. OMG!! You are a lifesaver! I have worked all day manually merging values on a 13,000 row spreadsheet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This literally took it down to under 1,200 in about 5 minutes. Thank you thank you thank you!

  6. Woowwwwww… thanx alot Andrew Roberts..
    I was dying to know this “absolute brilliant formula” and u made it extremly easy.. thanx again
    You save my life..

  7. This is great! One follow up questions… What if you wanted to show an as of date either before or after the selection? I can’t keep it from wanting to repeat the date. Any solutions?

  8. Dude! You da real MVP! Company has been doing this manually for ages. Made me look like everyone’s Saviour.

  9. IS THERE A WAY TO APPLY A CONDITION THAT IF THERE IS NO VALUE IN THE ASSIGN CELLS DO NOTHING (=IF(K111=K110,O110&”, “&M111,””)???

  10. Thanks this is great. I have been trying to find a way to do this for ages.

    I am cuurently trying to concate several dates and I can’t get the first date to format correctly. Subsequent dates do format.

    I’m using =IF(A46=A45,BB45&”; “&TEXT(Y46,”dd/mm/yy”),Y46)

    which gives me 41761; 29/04/14; 28/02/14

    Any help would be much appreciated.

  11. This is great! How can I do this when I have multiple columns of data? For example, what if this example also had columns for color, year, and transmission?

  12. Hi, Great article! It’s exactly what I’m looking for; however, do you have a quick tutorial on how to do the process backwards?

    I was given a row with multiple model #’s, however want to split it up into individual rows. How can i go about this?

    Thanks again!

    1. You might look to the Text-to-Columns feature in the Data Tools section of the Data menu tab. This should let you break out the models into individual cells. Good luck!

  13. I added this formula to a massive file. Now, how do I delete all of the records that I don’t need any longer without manually doing it one by one?

  14. Hi.
    How would i reverse this process. I get my data the other way around and need to sort it like the first page. Thanks in advance

  15. Thanks. this saved me a an hour. I needed to create a list of 150 sales reps and the states they cover. Added an additional if to compare the states and voila, a useful list.

  16. I have used it successfully. In addition to this, i have to extract first (left) 5 characters from the concatenated cell and put it in another cell.

    thanks

  17. This is awesome! Is there a formula for the reverse process? I have a list with values in one cell separated by commas and I need to convert it to each value is in a separate row.

  18. This was a GREAT video. It helped ALOT when we were combining 10,000 lines. I knew the combination needed an If function but could not develop the formula.

  19. This is great!
    I had to combine students attendance and academic standings in order to use V-look up successfully. It’s always great to find helpful and clear tips for Excel. Thank you!!

  20. Thank you. I have used it for our Civic Association for a membership reminder. There are a few tables in the dbase (place,member,payment,owner etc) and more than one member with an email address for the same properties. This helped me to use only unique email addresses to send personalized letters to members with a list of ALL the properties included and not a email for every property. I did find a small program from a third party, but will have to pay more than R500 to use it 4 times a year.

  21. I HAVE THE DATA IN DIFFERENT COLUMNS LIKE A, B,C, D E, F, G etc but all the cells are not filled, I want that the data in different columns must be copied in a single column say for example H. How ??

  22. Hello,

    I’m using excel 2010. When I use your method, all rows except the last return 0. The last returns the first value. Any suggestions?

    Thanks,

    JJ

  23. Thanks so much for this. Almost every other site provided really complex VBA code based solutions. This on the other hand was a really simple and elegant solution. Thanks again!

  24. Brilliant and very helpful post. was thinking of doing this by taking to sql server then realized there could be soln in excel. This one helped a lot. Thank You so much..

  25. Excellent trick dude, but I have one question is there any data row limit in this formula. When i Tried using this in my data set it stuck 2043 rows. Please help.

  26. Well played sir. Very much appreciated. You even expanded my knowledge of different ways to achieve concatenates 🙂

  27. Thanks so much for this tutorial!

    This helped me consolidate thousands of lines of data for a vendor’s template without me going crazy or needing to pester coworkers over the holidays.

    You rock!!

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