Title: What to Do When Excel's TRIM Function Doesn't Work
Headings: What to Do When Excel's TRIM Function Doesn't Work
What to Do When Excel's TRIM Function Doesn't Work
Non-Breaking and Regular Spaces
Removing Non-Breaking Spaces
How the Formula Works
Considerations
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Content: What to Do When Excel's TRIM Function Doesn't Work
Software & Apps MS Office
What to Do When Excel's TRIM Function Doesn't Work
by
Ted French
Writer
Former Lifewire writer Ted French is a Microsoft Certified Professional who teaches and writes about spreadsheets and spreadsheet programs. our editorial process
Ted French
Updated on November 11, 2019
reviewed by
Ryan Perian
Lifewire Tech Review Board Member
Ryan Perian is a certified IT specialist who holds numerous IT certifications and has 12+ years' experience working in the IT industry support and management positions. our review board
Article reviewed on Jun 15, 2020
Ryan Perian
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When you copy or import text data into an Excel worksheet, the spreadsheet occasionally retains extra spaces in addition to the content you've inserted. Normally, the TRIM () function on its own can remove these unwanted spaces whether they occur between words or at the beginning or end of a text string. In certain situations, however, TRIM () can't do the job. On a computer, a space between words is not a blank area but a character — and there is more than one type of space character. One space character commonly used in Web pages that TRIM () will not remove is the non-breaking space . If you have imported or copied data from Web pages you may not be able to remove the extra spaces with the TRIM () function if they are created by non-breaking spaces. Non-Breaking and Regular Spaces
Ted French
Spaces are characters and each character is referenced by its ASCII code value. ASCII stands for the American Standard Code for Information Interchange — an international standard for text characters in computer operating environments that creates one set of codes for 255 different characters and symbols used in computer programs.