Data Cleaning

SheetWorkflow Guide Editorial Team2026-10-26

Convert Text-Typed Excel Amounts into Real Numbers

Imported values can look numeric while remaining text, causing unexpected arithmetic and lookup behavior in Excel.

SheetWorkflow Guide Editorial Team2026-10-26

Join Excel Name Fields with an Explicit Separator

Excel can combine separate first-name and last-name columns using the ampersand operator or a concatenation function.

SheetWorkflow Guide Editorial Team2026-10-26

Normalize Website Domains from Excel URL Lists

Extracting domain names can make a long Excel URL list easier to group and compare.

SheetWorkflow Guide Editorial Team2026-10-26

Look Beyond Cells When Auditing Excel External References

External workbook references can appear in formulas, defined names, objects, and charts.

SheetWorkflow Guide Editorial Team2026-10-26

Choose Case-Sensitive or Ordinary Excel Text Comparisons

An ordinary Excel comparison such as A1=B1 ignores differences in letter case and returns TRUE or FALSE.

SheetWorkflow Guide Editorial Team2026-10-26

Apply Several Excel Text Substitutions in a Defined Order

Nested SUBSTITUTE functions can perform several text replacements in one Excel formula.

SheetWorkflow Guide Editorial Team2026-10-26

Normalize Text Case Before Comparing Google Sheets Labels

LOWER converts text to lowercase, UPPER produces uppercase, and PROPER capitalizes words.

SheetWorkflow Guide Editorial Team2026-10-26

Identify Completely Empty Excel Rows Before Deleting Them

Selecting blank cells and then deleting their entire rows can remove valid Excel records.

SheetWorkflow Guide Editorial Team2026-10-26

Choose Between Removing Repeats and Returning Unique Results

The source describes the built-in Data, Data cleanup, Remove duplicates command.

SheetWorkflow Guide Editorial Team2026-10-26

Review Excel Duplicate Definitions Before Removing Rows

Excel duplicate cleanup can concern repeated cells, complete duplicate rows, or matches based on only selected fields.

SheetWorkflow Guide Editorial Team2026-10-26

Define Duplicate Rows Before Cleaning a Google Sheet

Google Sheets provides a built-in removal tool through Data, Data cleanup, Remove duplicates.

SheetWorkflow Guide Editorial Team2026-10-26

Identify Text-Typed Excel Values Before Cleaning a Column

ISTEXT checks whether an Excel value is text and returns TRUE or FALSE.

SheetWorkflow Guide Editorial Team2026-10-26

Create a Text Date Field with an Explicit Excel Format

TEXT can convert an Excel date into a text string using a specified format code.

SheetWorkflow Guide Editorial Team2026-10-26

Convert Excel Numbers to Text for the Right Reason

Some numeric-looking Excel fields represent identifiers rather than quantities.

SheetWorkflow Guide Editorial Team2026-10-26

Convert Recognized Text Dates Through Checking or DATEVALUE

Dates may arrive as text when copied from another source or entered into cells that were already formatted as text.

SheetWorkflow Guide Editorial Team2026-10-26

Make Space Before Splitting Excel Text into Columns

Text to Columns can separate combined information, such as names, without manually editing every cell.

SheetWorkflow Guide Editorial Team2026-10-26

Limit an Excel Search Before Replacing Data

Excel's Find and Replace can search within a selected range, a worksheet, or a workbook.

SheetWorkflow Guide Editorial Team2026-10-26

Remove Certain Hidden Characters with Excel CLEAN

CLEAN removes nonprinting characters from Excel text, including line-break and control characters described in the Ablebits guide.

SheetWorkflow Guide Editorial Team2026-10-26

Check Imported Dates Before Trusting Their Appearance

Data imported from a CSV file or another system may look like dates while remaining text in Excel.

SheetWorkflow Guide Editorial Team2026-10-26

Diagnose CSV Data That Opens in One Excel Column

A CSV file may use a different field separator from the one Excel expects under the current regional settings.