1. Merge cells to retain the contents of the original cells:
1. Copy the contents of the cells to be merged to another column
2. Merge the original cells and clear
3. Open the clipboard and select the merged cell
4. Click on the contents of the clipboard
5. Delete the auxiliary column, OK
2. Batch replace soft return (ALT+Enter)
The carriage return in Word is ^p
Use alt+10 in excel (needs a small keyboard)
or ctrl+j (notebook available)