# How to remove non-breaking spaces in Excel

Turn them into normal spaces, then trim: =TRIM(SUBSTITUTE(A2,CHAR(160)," ")). TRIM on its own leaves non-breaking spaces in place.

**Excel:** `=TRIM(SUBSTITUTE(A2,CHAR(160)," "))` (Every current version)

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

## Example

Sample data (row 1 is the header):

| A | B |
| --- | --- |
| Product (copied from web) | Clean |
| Desk lamp |  |
| Office chair |  |
| Monitor arm |  |
| Standing  desk |  |
| USB-C dock |  |

Formula in B2, filled to B6: `=TRIM(SUBSTITUTE(A2,CHAR(160)," "))`

Result: Desk lamp; Office chair; Monitor arm; Standing desk; USB-C dock

## How it works

Text copied from web pages often uses the non-breaking space, character 160, which looks like a space but isn't one. TRIM only removes normal spaces (character 32), so it misses them, and lookups fail on values that look identical. SUBSTITUTE turns each `CHAR(160)` into a normal space, and TRIM then removes the extras.

## Other ways

- `=SUBSTITUTE(A2,CHAR(160),"")`: Deletes them instead. Right for numbers like "1 250", wrong between words. (Words run together: "Desklamp", "Standingdesk".)

## Common mistakes

- CLEAN doesn't remove character 160 either; it only handles characters 0 to 31.
- In Find and Replace, you can type a non-breaking space with Alt+0160 on the number pad.

## Questions

**How do I check whether a cell has non-breaking spaces?**

Search for the character: `=ISNUMBER(FIND(CHAR(160),A2))`.

**How do I fix numbers that contain them?**

Remove them and convert: `=VALUE(SUBSTITUTE(A2,CHAR(160),""))`.

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-non-breaking-spaces