# How to remove accents from letters in Excel

Swap each accented letter for its plain one with nested SUBSTITUTE, one per letter: =SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A2,"é","e"),"ñ","n") and so on.

**Excel:** `=SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A2,"é","e"),"í","i"),"ë","e"),"ü","u"),"ç","c"),"è","e"),"ñ","n"),"Á","A")` (Every current version)

**Google Sheets:** the same formula works.

## Example

Sample data (row 1 is the header):

| A | B |
| --- | --- |
| Name | Plain letters |
| José Martínez |  |
| Zoë Müller |  |
| François Lefèvre |  |
| Ana Peña |  |
| Inés Álvarez |  |

Formula in B2, filled to B6: `=SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A2,"é","e"),"í","i"),"ë","e"),"ü","u"),"ç","c"),"è","e"),"ñ","n"),"Á","A")`

Result: Jose Martinez; Zoe Muller; Francois Lefevre; Ana Pena; Ines Alvarez

## How it works

There is no built-in function for this, so each SUBSTITUTE replaces one accented letter and passes the result to the next. The list covers the letters in this data; add a SUBSTITUTE for each other letter you meet. Plain letters are what usernames, file names and some older systems need.

## Other ways

- `=LOWER(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A2,"é","e"),"í","i"),"ë","e"),"ü","u"),"ç","c"),"è","e"),"ñ","n"),"Á","A")," ","."))`: Goes one step further, building an email-safe name. ("jose.martinez" and so on.)

## Common mistakes

- SUBSTITUTE is case-sensitive: "é" and "É" each need their own replacement.
- Long lists hit Excel's limit of 64 nested functions. Keep the pairs in a table and use the REDUCE version in the FAQ.

## Questions

**Is there a shorter way in Excel 365?**

Put the accented letters in D2:D20 and the plain ones in E2:E20, then: `=REDUCE(A2,SEQUENCE(ROWS(D2:D20)),LAMBDA(t,i,SUBSTITUTE(t,INDEX(D2:D20,i),INDEX(E2:E20,i))))`.

**Does this work in Google Sheets?**

Yes, nested SUBSTITUTE works the same, and Google Sheets also has REDUCE.

Every formula and result on this page was checked by running it in the Spreadsheet Practice formula engine on 2026-10-30.

Source: https://spreadsheetpractice.com/formulas/remove-accents-from-letters