How to Use the CONCATENATE Function in Excel

When working with large databases in Excel, data is often split into separate columns. For example, Column A might contain a list of “First Names” and Column B might contain “Last Names”. If you need to import this data into an email marketing platform, you usually need the full name combined into a single column. Manually retyping hundreds of names is out of the question. To automate this process and instantly merge the text from multiple cells into one, you must use the CONCATENATE Function (or its modern, simpler alternatives).

The Classic Method: CONCATENATE

This is the original function, recognized by every version of Excel.

Scenario: A1 contains “John” and B1 contains “Doe”. You want C1 to display “John Doe”.

1. Click into Cell C1.
2. Type: =CONCATENATE(
3. Click on A1.
4. Type a comma: ,
5. The Crucial Step: If you simply select B1 now, the result will be “JohnDoe” with no space. You must manually inject a space character. Type a quotation mark, a space, and another quotation mark: " "
6. Type another comma: ,
7. Click on B1.
8. Close the parenthesis and press Enter: =CONCATENATE(A1, " ", B1)

Cell C1 will now display perfectly spaced: “John Doe”.

The Modern Method: CONCAT and TEXTJOIN (Excel 2019+)

Microsoft recognized that the word “CONCATENATE” is unnecessarily long, so they introduced shorter, more powerful alternatives.

• CONCAT: This works exactly the same as the classic version, but requires less typing. (e.g., =CONCAT(A1, " ", B1)).
• TEXTJOIN (The Power Tool): If you need to combine 10 columns and want a space between all of them, typing " ", ten times is tedious. TEXTJOIN allows you to declare a “delimiter” (like a space or comma) just once at the beginning, and it applies it to everything automatically. (e.g., =TEXTJOIN(" ", TRUE, A1:J1)).

The Fastest Method: The Ampersand (&)

For simple combinations, you don’t actually need to type a function word at all. You can use the Ampersand (&) symbol to stitch cells together mathematically.

1. Click into Cell C1.
2. Type: =A1 & " " & B1
3. Press Enter.

This does exactly the same thing as CONCATENATE, but it is vastly faster to type and easier to read when dealing with complex formulas.