Excel VBA Code to merge similar adjacent cells - excel

Question

I'd like to merge identical adjacent cells within a column. Some online examples loop through the column and merge every time the cell below matches, and I'd like to avoid that. Here's my current broken attempt that spits out run-time error 5.
Sub Merge2()
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Dim rng1 As Range
Dim rng2 As Range
Dim certaincell As Range
Dim LastRow As Long
LastRow = 0
LastRow = Cells(Rows.Count, 35).End(xlUp).Row
Set rng1 = Range(Cells(2, 35), Cells(LastRow, 35))
CheckUnder:
For Each certaincell In rng1
Set rng2 = Union(rng2, certaincell) 'Add the checking cell to the range
If certaincell.Value = certaincell.Offset(1, 0).Value Then 'if the cell is the same as the cell under
'move on to next cell
Else
rng2.Merge 'merge similar cells above
Set rng2 = Nothing
End If
Next
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

Answer 1

The variable rng2 is initially set to Nothing. So, adjust your code as follows:
For Each certaincell In rng1
If rng2 Is Nothing Then
Set rng2 = certaincell
End If
Set rng2 = Union(rng2, certaincell) 'Add the checking cell to the range
If certaincell.Value = certaincell.Offset(1, 0).Value Then
Else
rng2.Merge 'merge similar cells above
Set rng2 = Nothing
End If
Next
The if statement will check if the rng2 is nothing and if so, it will assign the currently checked certaincell to the variable.
Also, merging cells with data will pop up some error dialogs. This can be avoided by using Application.DisplayAlerts = False.
Make sure to turn it on using Application.DisplayAlerts = True at the end.