[Qgis-user] advice needed - merge attributes

[David]

Hi everyone,
On a shapefile, given to me by the person who created it, I need to merge some polygons to make larger units.    For example, select four adjacent polygons and use the merge tool and you get one large polygon.   Great.   However, on the attributes table what seems to happen is that instead of combining the various values (size, perimeter etc) three of the four polygons have disappeared leaving just one with its original data unchanged.   Would some kind person tell me what I'm doing wrong?
Thanks in advance.
David Asquith
UK
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