How to Remove Extra Spaces in Excel
Strip the leading, trailing, and double spaces — plus the invisible ones — that quietly break your lookups, sorts, and duplicate checks.
Last updated: August 2026
| Before | After | |
|---|---|---|
| " Acme Corp " | → | "Acme Corp" |
| "East " (trailing space) | → | "East" |
Method 1 — TRIM (and CLEAN)
- In a helper column, enter
=TRIM(A2)to remove leading, trailing, and repeated spaces. - To also strip non-printable characters, use
=TRIM(CLEAN(A2)). - Copy the helper column, then Paste Special → Values over the original and delete the helper.
Method 2 — Find & Replace (double spaces)
- Select the range and press Ctrl + H.
- In Find what type two spaces, in Replace with type one space, and click Replace All a few times until it finds none.
- Note: this won't remove leading/trailing single spaces or non-breaking spaces (character 160) from web/PDF pastes.
The 1-click way — Tellsheet's Clean
Select the range and click Clean. Tellsheet trims leading/trailing spaces, collapses inner runs, and removes non-printable and non-breaking characters — in place, no helper columns to copy back. You see a preview and it's revertable. Clean is one of Tellsheet's free tools.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between TRIM and CLEAN?
TRIM removes leading, trailing, and repeated spaces; CLEAN removes non-printable control characters. Use =TRIM(CLEAN(A2)) for both.
Why does TRIM leave a space that won't disappear?
It's usually a non-breaking space (character 160) from a web or PDF paste, which TRIM ignores. Replace it with =SUBSTITUTE(A2,CHAR(160)," "), or use Tellsheet's Clean which removes it automatically.
How do I clean a whole column without helper columns?
Tellsheet's Clean works in place on the selected cells, so there's no helper column to paste back and delete.
Related Excel guides
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