Hi

I run Excel 2K

I have a spreadsheet that was downloaded from a mainframe source. (the
source allows saving data in an Excel format)

There is approx 16,000 rows off data and 15 columns wide.

Most of the cells are showing as empty.

However there is actually data in them as when I use the counta formula it
counts the blank cells as well. If i put the curser in the blank cells and
press delete the counta formula I am using then displays the correct answer.

I need to be able to highlight the entire database and delete whatever it is
in the blanks cells without deleteing that data that is visible.

any ideas?

Thanks

If the "empty" cells contain unseen space characters, this macro will remove
them:

http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/join.htm#trimall

The macro also removes other whitespace characters so you might want to try
that first on a copy of your file.

--
Biff
Microsoft Excel MVP


"John Calder" wrote in message
...
Hi

I run Excel 2K

I have a spreadsheet that was downloaded from a mainframe source. (the
source allows saving data in an Excel format)

There is approx 16,000 rows off data and 15 columns wide.

Most of the cells are showing as empty.

However there is actually data in them as when I use the counta formula it
counts the blank cells as well. If i put the curser in the blank cells and
press delete the counta formula I am using then displays the correct
answer.

I need to be able to highlight the entire database and delete whatever it
is
in the blanks cells without deleteing that data that is visible.

any ideas?

Thanks