Merging Table Cells in Google Docs is not as easy as it sounds. I am not completely sure why this ability has been left out, merging a table cell is a pretty standard feature (come on Google!).
For those of you who are needing table cells to be merged, we will need to tap into the HTML side of Google Docs. Personally, I love that I can alter the code on the Google Doc directly as it allows for some really nice customizations.
On with the show.
Let’s say you added a standard 2X2 table (2 rows, 2 colums) and you need the top row to be merged into a single column that spans the length of the two below it.
For those of you familiar with HTML code, simply click Edit in the top menu, then Edit HTML in the drop down.
Edit > Edit HTML
A HTML window will pop up where you can locate the table and change the HTML table code from:
<table> <tr> <td> </td> <td> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> <td> </td> </tr> </table>
to
<table>
<tr>
<td colspan="2"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
</table>
Those of you who have trouble locating the table code in the HTML source, I recommend typing something into the table cells you are trying to merge, such as ‘asdf’ once the HTML widow is popped up, use the browser’s ‘find’ tool (Ctrl + F) and type in ‘asdf’ or the text you typed into the cells, this will generally located the table for you.
For merging more than two columns, simply increase the ‘colspan=”2″‘ number to however many columns you want to merge. i.e. merging four columns would be ‘colspan=”4″‘.
Until Google updates this feature (please do so soon Big G) we are stuck alterning the HTML of the document.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks a lot! Great Tip!
Thank you! This proved to be just the trick I needed to merge cells in Google Documents
Also worked for me, thanks.
Thanks for the help! That was easy to do and I’d never noticed I could alter the html.
Removed from new version while still preventing column merge….
Edit HTML does not appear on my menu (nor does Edit CSS which I also see on yours). Is there some other setting that I need to make this appear?
Hmmm…
My EDIT menu stops at ‘Find Replace’
NO edit HTML option.
Is this because I’m from Australia or something weird?
@JD:
Nope. The “new” google document has removed options for editing html and css, as well as now forcing us to work on an A4 document. A nerf if you ask me
thanks a lot, great help!
they seem to have removed it