After entering the formulas in column B, select column B and Copy.

Select column A and EditPaste SpecialValues.

Delete column B

BTW..............TRIM just removes extra spaces, not single spaces between
words in a string.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP



On Thu, 16 Oct 2008 08:46:00 -0700, Shayra
wrote:

Hi! I want to remove non-printing characters from exported data to save the
file in a comma delimitted format so I can import it into another program.

Anyways, I have used =TRIM formula to do so by duplicating the column of
data and in the "duplicate" column I put the trim formula. For example, if
A2 contains the original exported data, I copied the info in B2 and placed,
=TRIM(A2) in the B2 column. Then I hid the original column (A2) and saved
it. But when I open the CSV file both my hidden and unhidden columns show
up.

Since this is the only way I know how to use trim (by duplicating the
original data into another column. MY QUESTION IS: can I use the =TRIM
formula in the original data without making duplicates. And if so how? When
I try to do this it gives me a circular reference error and the orignal data
disappears. Help please.