Merged cells should be avoided, if possible, because they lead to all kinds of problems for data processing.
Use "Center Across Selection" instead
I may be wrong, but so far as I can tell,
Center Across Selection = Merge selected Cells first, then center the texts
So actually there would be no difference no matter which method you use.
I've looked through help and done a bit of a web search and can't find out if there is a keyboard shortcut for merging cells in excel?
A little help, anyone? Thanks!