"Denis Beauregard" <denis.b-at-francogene.com@fr.invalid> wrote in message news:tmcek3livuvvnfo1g7fhored9s5tut87qf@4ax.com... > Le Sat, 24 Nov 2007 07:52:00 +1300, "Himself" <himself@himself.com> > écrivait dans soc.genealogy.computing: > >>Now the trick will be to remove all the unwanted spaces from 3000 cells, >>the >>lazy way. Any suggestions ? > > save your excel sheet. > > add a column after this. If in column D, insert new column E. > > In the first line (cell E1), type the formula > > =trim(d1) > > copy and paste the cell to all the next lines > > highlight column E, then paste "special" and select "value" > > CHECK IF YOU DID IT CORRECTLY, i.e. if the cursor is on the new cell, > do you see the formula or the name. Use F2 to check. > > delete colomn D. > > IF YOU MADE SOMETHING WRONG, quit the sheet (no save) and reopen the > previous one. > > > IMPORTANT : I use the French version of Excel. I don't know if trim > is the right command for that. I usually proceed differently, by > using the number of characters and copy the cell minus 1 char, and > I then check again, in case some words add 2 spaces at the end. > Thanks Denis. Will give that a try also as a test. Dave's suggestion worked for the plain file I have at present, but would have lost some formatting options that might be included in the future. Help within Excel does not go into details as how to apply TRIM, as you have. My lesson learnt is to check for trailing spaces before importing additions to the spreadsheet. Keith

On Sat, 24 Nov 2007 11:13:13 +1300, "Himself" <himself@himself.com> wrote in soc.genealogy.computing: >Help within Excel does not go into details as how to apply TRIM, as you >have. Actually, it does. You type = and there is a button at the left end of the formula toolbar (replacing the cell position). Press that button (actually the selector, on the right side of the button) and select other functions (at the bottom of the list), then the text category then the trim function, and you get a dialog helping you to enter the text. At least, this is available in Excel 97. >My lesson learnt is to check for trailing spaces before importing additions >to the spreadsheet. Indeed Denis -- 0 Denis Beauregard - /\/ Les Français d'Amérique du Nord - www.francogene.com/genealogie--quebec/ |\ French in North America before 1722 - www.francogene.com/quebec--genealogy/ / | Maintenant sur cédérom, début à 1770 (Version 2008) oo oo Now on CD-ROM, beginnings to 1770 (2008 Release)