To add to what Duke had to say, the values will be in the leftmost cell if
you select the 4 cells from left to right but it will be centered across
these cells and looks perfectly merged without the drawbacks

(Merged Cells = pits of the world, vicious, malevolent) <bg


--
Regards,

Peo Sjoblom



"Duke Carey" wrote in message
...
First, select all 4 cells.
Now go to Format-Cells and click on the alignment tab.
Under Horizontal alignment choose "Center across selection"

BTW, I agree with Peo 150%. Merged cells are an atrocity.

"jstephenson" wrote:

it doesn't have to be merged, i just wanted the number to be centered in
the
area i am working in. there are four cells, and i need the data centered
between the four. and ideas?

"Peo Sjoblom" wrote:

Just out of curiosity, why would you do this. Merging cells are one of
the
worst things
one can do unless it is a plain text header in the uppermost row.
Otherwise
it will always come back to haunt you sooner or later. There are so
many
Excel functions that don't work as they should with merged cells, as
soon as
you start copying and pasting merged cells will screw up the workbook
or
refused to be pasted, you can't wrap text without using macros in
merged
cells. Formulas get screwed up, yet it seems there are so many people
that
find this function irresistible. I never ever use merged cells and I
always
remove them from workbooks that are sent to me. I can have a layout
that can
mimic almost 100% what merged cells can look like?
So what is the attraction?


--
Regards,

Peo Sjoblom



"jstephenson" wrote in message
...
i recently tried to merge and center a sum four cells. the one cell
with
data was a sum function. when i hit the m and c icon, the cells
merged
and
the data was moved to left alignment. no amount of hitting center or
pight
justification would help. i was able to merge and center cells two
lines
up
(data entered in manually) with no problem. any reasons and or
possible
cures?

thank you all as always,

js