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How to combine multiple columns into one in Excel and Google Sheets
Topic:Data cleaning & shapingHeads up: Excel and Google Sheets do this differently.
Excel
=A2&" "&B2&" "&C2Google Sheets
=TEXTJOIN(" ",TRUE,A2,B2,C2)✓
Verified example
Computed by a real spreadsheet engine on the sample data below.
| First | Middle | Last | Full Name |
| Alice | M | Smith | |
| Bob | Jones | ||
| Carol | A | Lee | |
| David | R | Kim | |
| Eve | Brown |
=A2&" "&B2&" "&C2→Alice M Smith
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Step by step
- 1Simple concatenation (both apps): In D2 type =A2&" "&B2&" "&C2 — replace " " with any delimiter like ", " or "-".
- 2In Google Sheets or Excel 2019+, use TEXTJOIN for cleaner syntax: =TEXTJOIN(" ",TRUE,A2:C2) — the TRUE argument skips empty cells.
- 3Copy the formula down all rows and the output updates as source data changes.
Tips
- TEXTJOIN is ideal when some cells may be blank — setting ignore_empty to TRUE means no double spaces or stray delimiters appear in the output.
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Frequently asked
What's the difference between CONCAT and CONCATENATE?
CONCAT accepts ranges; CONCATENATE only accepts individual cell references. Both join text without a delimiter. Use & or TEXTJOIN for delimiter control.
How do I combine an entire column into one cell?
Use TEXTJOIN with a range: =TEXTJOIN(", ",TRUE,A2:A100) — this joins all values in A2:A100 with a comma-space separator.
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