Another way to try might be to use TRIM()

Try along these lines in a spare copy

Assuming the text is entered in Sheet1 in say, A1:D20

In a new Sheet2:

Put in A1: =TRIM(Sheet1!A1)
Copy across to D1, fill down to D20
This should remove all the extraneous spaces

Then just select A1:D20 and do a copy paste special values ok to
overwrite the original range in Sheet1. And then delete Sheet2
--
Rgds
Max
xl 97
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GMT+8, 1° 22' N 103° 45' E
xdemechanik <atyahoo<dotcom
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"Gina O'Brien" wrote in message
...
Hello

I'm collating a lot of spreadsheets that many other
people have filled in onto one big spreadhseet template.

My problem is that there is a free text cell and, because people
dont know about the 'alt & enter' option, they've hit the space bar
many many times make it look like a new point starts on a new line.

In Word, you have the option of showing all the keyboard strokes
so you can tell what people have done - but I'm finding I'm having
to go into each free text cell and hit delete, then the cell magically
shifts up so that there is no white space.

Any ideas? My document is currently 200 pages long and I'm
nowhere near done!

Gina