How can the answer be improved? To unmerge the cells, select your merged cell,and then click Merge & Center again.This works for both columns and rows,though if you do merge cells that havemore than one item in them, it's only going to keepthe uppermost value and delete the rest.
If you have tables in a Word doc or Outlook message and you suddenly can’t see or click on specific cells, chances are good that 1) the tables have merged cells, 2) you’re using Word 2016 or Outlook 2016, and 3) you installed this month’s KB 3213656. The buggy patch was pushed out the Automatic Update chute on Aug. 8.
Microsoft hasn’t yet acknowledged the problem, but there are several credible, detailed reports about the bug. The only solution is to uninstall KB 3213656.
Poster RAJasonCampbell on the Microsoft Answers forum describes the bug thusly:
Windows 10, Office 2016 Pro Plus both fully patched. Have a Word document that includes multiple tables, in each table there are merged cells. If the cell is merged you can't click on the cell or see the data in the cell. If you copy the table out of Word and paste it into Excel, the data shows. If you un-merge the cells and paste it back into Word, it shows all of the data.
I tried this on a system that is not patched and the merged tables display properly in Word. Why would an Office update break pasting merged cells into a word document? Any advise on this will be greatly appreciated; this is impacting over 4600 documents at this time, and I am sure we will be finding many more.
Poster Jase L dissected the problem on the Microsoft Answers forum and in the Technet forum:
We have applied KB3213656 to our Office 2016 environment in order to fix the Outlook spell check issue mentioned in the KB article. We have since noticed that this has broken tables in both Word and Outlook. Basically if you merge two or more cells, as long as at least two of the cells are in different rows, the resultant cell becomes completely unusable. You cannot click into it, type into it or right click it. That is unless the merge includes the top row.
If you open an existing document that has cells that have been merged previously. Any of those cells will appear completely blank. Doesn't matter which view you use in Word.
Microsoft has not acknowledged the problem or offered a solution, and the official help on the forum runs in the usual “Re-install, start in safe mode, new user profile, go away” vein. The patch is still available for download, but there’s at least one report that it’s no longer being offered through Windows Update. Fortunately, uninstalling the patch clears up the problem — but that raises another concern, voiced by BenutzerserviceK:
This time the patch introducing the issue can be uninstalled without security concerns. But I'm seriously concerned that the next patch containing also security updates for Word 2016 WILL reintroduce the issue if Microsoft does not investigate and fix it in time.
Note that this problem is different from the bug in the Office 2016 patch KB 4011051, which broke hyperlinks in Excel 2016. That bug was fixed with another patch, KB 4011093, earlier this week.
More joys of automatic updating.
Discussion continues on the AskWoody Lounge.
/ Thursday, May 25 2017 / Published in Latest, Microsoft, Office 2013, Office 2016, Office 365, Publisher 2013, Publisher 2016
Merge and Split Table Cells in Publisher: Overview
After adding a table to a publication, you can merge and split table cells in Publisher to control its layout. You can merge multiple selected cells together into one larger cell. You can also split a single, selected cell into multiple, smaller cells. This is often performed on layout tables in a publication page. Doing this create cells of various sizes into which you can place page content to precisely align it.
To merge multiple selected cells into a single cell, first select the cells to merge into a single cell. Next, click the “Layout” tab of the “Table Tools” contextual tab in the Ribbon. Then click the “Merge Cells” button in the “Merge” button group. The selected cells are then merged into a single cell.
Merge and Split Table Cells in Publisher- Instructions: A picture of a user merging multiple table cells in Publisher.
To split a merged cell back into its component cells, click into the merged cell to split. Next, click the “Layout” tab in the “Table Tools” contextual tab within the Ribbon. Then click the “Split Cells” button in the “Merge” button group. Doing this divides the merged cell back into its component cells within the existing columns and rows.
To display a drop-down menu of all possible cell division choices, select a cell in a table. Then click the “Diagonals” button in the “Merge” button group on the “Layout” tab in the Ribbon. You can select “Divide Down” or “Divide Up” commands to divide the selected cell up or down diagonally.
To remove a diagonal split from a selected cell, click into a table cell that contains a diagonal split. Then select the “No Division” command from the “Diagonals” button’s drop-down menu.
Merge and Split Table Cells in Publisher: Instructions
- To merge multiple selected cells into a single cell, first select the cells to merge into a single cell.
- Click the “Layout” tab of the “Table Tools” contextual tab in the Ribbon.
- Then click the “Merge Cells” button in the “Merge” button group. The selected cells are then merged into a single cell.
- To split a merged cell back into its component cells, click into the merged cell to split.
- Click the “Layout” tab in the “Table Tools” contextual tab within the Ribbon.
- Then click the “Split Cells” button in the “Merge” button group.
- To display a drop-down menu of all possible cell division choices, select a cell in a table.
- Then click the “Diagonals” button in the “Merge” button group on the “Layout” tab in the Ribbon.
- To divide the selected cell up or down diagonally, select either the “Divide Down” or “Divide Up” commands.
- To remove a diagonal split from a table cell, select the “No Division” command, instead.
Merge and Split Table Cells in Publisher: Video Lesson
The following video lesson, titled “Merging and Splitting Cells,” shows you how to merge and split table cells in Publisher. This video is from our complete Microsoft Publisher training, titled “Mastering Publisher Made Easy v.2016-2013.”