SPREADSHEET TIPS & TRICKS: The “Trim” Function

Ever had a data series that needed cleaning? This function removes spaces from the front and back of a set of characters in an Excel cell. For example, you may need to perform the Vlookup function on a list of client codes in an Excel spreadsheet.

However, the data you are given may contain unnecessary spaces at the front or end of each client name.

For example, “ClientA” may be in your spreadsheet as “__ClientA___“, where the underscores illustrate the spaces.

To clean the data and remove the spaces from the front and back of the characters, use the =TRIM() function, where you would place the cell reference within the brackets.

After cleaning the data in this way, your Vlookup function would work.