For exports, CSVs and form responses that need tidying before anyone can use them.
Clean up messy data
Fix extra spaces, wrong case, duplicates, numbers stored as text, joined columns, names in one cell and blank cells, with formulas and tools instead of by hand.
One lesson is free and needs no sign-up.
Do this path on your computer.
Its lessons run in your browser on a laptop or desktop, and every step is checked as you go. Send yourself the link. Nothing is saved until you sign in.
The lessons, in order
Each one takes about 9 minutes. One is free; the rest are in the full course.
- 1
Remove extra spaces with TRIM
In the full course. Beginner · 9 min
Find the invisible spaces that break lookups and hide duplicates, and clean them with TRIM in a helper column.
See the lesson - 2
Change case: UPPER, LOWER, PROPER
In the full course. Beginner · 7 min
Fix capitalization with UPPER, LOWER and PROPER in a helper column, and know which names PROPER gets wrong.
See the lesson - 3
Highlight duplicates
In the full course. Confident · 9 min
Color every value that appears more than once in a column, so repeated invoices, emails or IDs stand out before they cause trouble.
See the lesson - 4
Remove duplicates
Free · Confident · 9 min
Delete repeated rows from a merged list, and choose which columns decide what counts as a duplicate.
Start the lesson - 5
Fix numbers stored as text
In the full course. Confident · 9 min
Spot numbers that are stored as text, turn them into real numbers with VALUE, and paste the fixed values over the originals.
See the lesson - 6
Split one column into several
In the full course. Confident · 8 min
Split text that arrived in one column into separate columns at a comma, semicolon or any other separator, without losing data to the right.
See the lesson - 7
LEFT, RIGHT and MID
In the full course. Confident · 9 min
Pull the first, last or middle characters out of a code with LEFT, RIGHT and MID, counting the start position correctly.
See the lesson - 8
Split full names into first and last
In the full course. Confident · 10 min
Split full names into first and last name with FIND, LEFT and MID, or in one go with the split-text tool, and know when each is right.
See the lesson - 9
Fill blank cells with the value above
In the full course. Confident · 10 min
Fill the empty cells in a list so every row shows its group's name. You will use a helper column and paste values.
See the lesson - 10
Why your SUM is wrong
In the full course. Confident · 10 min
Find why a SUM total doesn't match: numbers stored as text, a range that stops short, hidden rows or a total typed by hand, and fix each one.
See the lesson
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See the pathGet the full course
Every lesson in the Excel course, with new lessons added as they're written.
- All 217 Excel lessons open today, and every new one as it's written.
- The Roadmap, Skills and all eight paths.
- A cheat sheet for every lesson you finish.
- At checkout, add the Google Sheets course for US$49.