TRIM isn't doing anything. The spaces aren't actually spaces.
Marketing pasted vendor product names from a supplier's web portal into the catalog. Each name looks padded with leading/trailing whitespace but =TRIM(A2) returns the exact same string. The culprit is CHAR(160) — non-breaking spaces from HTML that TRIM doesn't touch.
Strip invisible non-breaking spaces from a web paste
Practice using TRIM to solve a real small business problem. By the end, you’ll know when to reach for it and how to structure the arguments correctly.
Marketing copy-pasted vendor product names from a supplier's web portal into the catalog spreadsheet. The strings look like they have leading and trailing whitespace but =TRIM(A2) returns the exact same string. The culprit: those aren't regular spaces — they're CHAR(160) non-breaking spaces baked in from the HTML. Convert them to regular spaces with SUBSTITUTE first, then TRIM can do its job.
In cell C2, return a fully cleaned version of A2. Convert every CHAR(160) into a regular space first, then trim the result. Drag down through C5 so the whole catalog is clean.
TRIM removes leading and trailing spaces from text and collapses any run of internal spaces down to a single space. The one-function pre-flight check before any lookup, comparison, or join - because imported data from CRMs, PDFs, and web scrapes is almost never as clean as it looks.
TRIM(text)Try the formula first. Hints cost CP for a reason.