Fill Down With Merged Cells

[bluescreamsblack]

I have Column AH which has every two rows merged (AH10:AH111,AH12:AH13) etc. In column AQ I have an equation that I want to be able to fill down that references column AH. My issue is that the first cell in Column AQ references the merged cell, but the second references only half the merged cell? and returns 0.

AH10:AH11 = 50
AH12:AH13 = 75

AQ10 = AH10:AH11 and returns 50
Drag down equation:
AQ11 = AH11 and returns 0
AQ12 = AH12:AH13 and returns 75
AQ13 = AH13 and returns 0

I realize that I can manually change the first second row, then drag down the top two cells in Column AQ and it will work, however, this is the only location where simply filling down will be different and in the future, if I forgot, or someone else is using my sheet this may be missed.

Is there a way to ensure that filling down will always capture the entire merged cell? I have encountered this problem many times before and always worked around it, but curious if there is a better way.

Thanks

 

[jproffer]

I hate to say this, because I'm sure it's easier said than done...but yea, there's a way...don't use merged cells. They're a PITA.

Just curious, if you have 2 rows x 1 column merged, why didn't you just make the row taller?

I'm sorry I'm not more help, that's why a lot of people strongly avoid (I've seen the term "plague" used before) merged cells.