The Problem
You have John in Column A and Smith in Column B, but you need John Smith in one cell. Merging cells won't work—it just keeps the top-left value.
The Easy Way: Use SheetXAI
If you don't want to mess with formulas, the fastest way to do this is simply by asking.
With SheetXAI, you can open the sidebar and type:
Combine columns A and B with a space in between.
SheetXAI will instantly write the formula or script for you and fill the cells. It handles the syntax so you can focus on the result.
The Manual Way: The Formulas You Need
To do this manually, you need to use: CONCAT (or &).
1. & Operator
Joins two text strings together.
Syntax: =text1 & text2
- text1: The first item to join.
- text2: The second item to join.
Example:
="A" & "B" returns "AB".
2. TEXTJOIN
Joins text with a delimiter.
Syntax: =TEXTJOIN(delimiter, ignore_empty, text1, ...)
- delimiter: A text string, either empty, or one or more characters enclosed by double quotes, or a reference to a valid text string.
- ignore_empty: If TRUE, ignores empty cells.
- text1: Text item to be joined.
Example:
=TEXTJOIN(" ", TRUE, A2, B2).
Understanding the Logic
We simply take the first name, add a space (which must be in quotes " "), and then add the last name.
The Final Formula:
=A2 & " " & B2
Conclusion
Now you know the "classic" way to solve this using formulas. It's a great skill to have.
But for those times when you just want the job done without the mental math, SheetXAI is there to help.
