Merge Cells

With GemBox.Document you can merge TableCell elements by specifying the number of rows and/or columns that the cell fills (the same way cells are merged in HTML).

The TableCell.RowSpan property specifies the number of rows that a cell will occupy. If the value is greater than 1, the resulting merged cell stretches vertically.

The TableCell.ColumnSpan property specifies the number of columns that a cell will occupy. If the value is greater than 1, the resulting merged cell stretches horizontally.

The following example shows how you can create a table with merged cells that stretch across multiple rows, or multiple columns or both.

Word document with Table that has merged cells
Screenshot of Table with merged cells
using GemBox.Document;
using GemBox.Document.Tables;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        // If using Professional version, put your serial key below.
        ComponentInfo.SetLicense("FREE-LIMITED-KEY");

        var document = new DocumentModel();

        var table = new Table(document,
            new TableRow(document,
                new TableCell(document, new Paragraph(document, "Cell (1,1)")),
                new TableCell(document, new Paragraph(document, "Cell (1,2) -> (1,4)"))
                {
                    ColumnSpan = 3
                }),
            new TableRow(document,
                new TableCell(document, new Paragraph(document, "Cell (2,1) -> (4,1)"))
                {
                    RowSpan = 3
                },
                new TableCell(document, new Paragraph(document, "Cell (2,2)")),
                new TableCell(document, new Paragraph(document, "Cell (2,3)")),
                new TableCell(document, new Paragraph(document, "Cell (2,4)"))),
            new TableRow(document,
                new TableCell(document, new Paragraph(document, "Cell (3,2)")),
                new TableCell(document, new Paragraph(document, "Cell (3,3) -> (4,4)"))
                {
                    ColumnSpan = 2,
                    RowSpan = 2
                }),
            new TableRow(document,
                new TableCell(document, new Paragraph(document, "Cell (4,2)"))));

        table.TableFormat.DefaultCellPadding = new Padding(15);

        document.Sections.Add(new Section(document, table));

        document.Save("Merge Cells.%OutputFileType%");
    }
}
Imports GemBox.Document
Imports GemBox.Document.Tables

Module Program

    Sub Main()

        ' If using Professional version, put your serial key below.
        ComponentInfo.SetLicense("FREE-LIMITED-KEY")

        Dim document As New DocumentModel()

        Dim table As New Table(document,
            New TableRow(document,
                New TableCell(document, New Paragraph(document, "Cell (1,1)")),
                New TableCell(document, New Paragraph(document, "Cell (1,2) -> (1,4)")) With
                {
                    .ColumnSpan = 3
                }),
            New TableRow(document,
                New TableCell(document, New Paragraph(document, "Cell (2,1) -> (4,1)")) With
                {
                    .RowSpan = 3
                },
                New TableCell(document, New Paragraph(document, "Cell (2,2)")),
                New TableCell(document, New Paragraph(document, "Cell (2,3)")),
                New TableCell(document, New Paragraph(document, "Cell (2,4)"))),
            New TableRow(document,
                New TableCell(document, New Paragraph(document, "Cell (3,2)")),
                New TableCell(document, New Paragraph(document, "Cell (3,3) -> (4,4)")) With
                {
                    .ColumnSpan = 2,
                    .RowSpan = 2
                }),
            New TableRow(document,
                New TableCell(document, New Paragraph(document, "Cell (4,2)"))))

        table.TableFormat.DefaultCellPadding = New Padding(15)

        document.Sections.Add(New Section(document, table))

        document.Save("Merge Cells.%OutputFileType%")

    End Sub
End Module

In Word files you can Merge table cells into one cell. The resulting merged cell will stretch across all the selected cells and contain their combined content.

To achieve this programmatically, you need to retrieve the cells that you want to merge from the Table element. The first cell, the one in the upper left corner of the targeted cells, is going to be the resulting merged cell so you need to specify the desired row and/or column span on it.

The rest of the cells need to be removed them from their TableCell.ParentCollection. Additionally, you can copy their TableCell.Blocks content and add it to the merged cell's content.

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If you want to try the GemBox.Document yourself, you can download the free version. It delivers the same performance and set of features as the professional version, but with some operations limited. To remove the limitation, you need to purchase a license.