Excel TRIM function removes the leading and trailing spaces, and double spaces between text strings. For example, in the above example, to remove spaces from the entire list if first names (in A2:A7), use the following formula in cell C1 and drag it down for all the first names:

Leading and trailing spaces will also be trimmed to 1, but will not be removed. Select one or several columns with the data to delete spaces between words. Press Ctrl + H to get the "Find and Replace" dialog box. Press the Space bar twice in the Find What field and once in Replace With · Click on the "Replace all" button, and then press Ok to close Excel confirmation dialog. Repeat step 4 until you see the message "We couldn't find anything to replace." :) If you often import data to Excel from external sources and spend much time polishing up your tables, the Trim Spaces tool will clean data imported from the web or any other external source.

Delete extra words (e.g., remove “N/A” or “Test” from a list) Standardize data (e.g., replace all underscores _ with spaces) 👉 Best for: Cleaning up imported data, fixing formatting issues, and standardizing text in Excel.