Written and reviewed by FormulaCraft Team. Each formula on this page is run through our verification engine before publishing.
Last reviewed:
How to remove extra spaces in Excel and Google Sheets
Topic:Text manipulationExcel & Google Sheets
=TRIM(A2)Try it with your data
Edit the grid or formula, then run it through a real spreadsheet engine — no signup.
Sample data — click any cell to edit
Runs server-side · free · no signup
Step by step
- 1In a new column, enter =TRIM(A2).
- 2Copy it down, then paste the result back as values if you want to replace the originals.
- 3Your text now has single spaces and no stray padding.
Tips
- Pair with CLEAN — =TRIM(CLEAN(A2)) — to also strip invisible characters from pasted text.
- TRIM is why a lookup suddenly works: hidden spaces were stopping the match.
Working on a sheet you inherited? Run the Auditor on the whole file first — it flags every #REF!, #N/A, broken column pattern, and inconsistent formula in seconds, free, no signup.
Frequently asked
Does TRIM remove all spaces?
No — it keeps single spaces between words and removes only leading, trailing, and repeated spaces. To remove every space, use SUBSTITUTE(A2, " ", "").
More on Text manipulation
See all →How-to
How to get text after a character or delimiter
Extract everything after the first delimiter with MID and FIND, including multi-character delimiters and explicit missing-delimiter handling.
How-toHow to split text into columns
Split a full name or any delimited text into separate columns. Google Sheets uses SPLIT; Excel uses TEXTSPLIT — here is each.
How-toHow to convert text to a number
Turn numbers stored as text into real numbers with VALUE or by multiplying by 1 — the fix for sums that ignore values.
How-toHow to extract the domain from an email address
Pull everything after the @ from an email using FIND and MID. Works the same in Excel and Google Sheets.
How-toHow to extract the first name from a full name
Get the first name from a full name with LEFT and FIND, splitting on the first space. Works in Excel and Google Sheets.
How-toHow to add leading zeros
Pad numbers to a fixed width with leading zeros using TEXT, or a custom number format. Works in Excel and Google Sheets.