HomeCSV ToolsTrim Whitespace

Trim Whitespace from CSV

Strip leading and trailing spaces from every cell in your CSV or spreadsheet with one click.

What this tool does

Hidden whitespace is one of the most common causes of failed lookups, broken joins, and mismatched data. A cell that looks like 'Alice' might actually be ' Alice ' — and that space breaks everything. Tabular trims every cell automatically, or lets you target specific columns.

Problems it solves

  • VLOOKUP and JOIN failures due to invisible spaces
  • Data imported from PDFs or web scrapes with padding
  • Fields that look identical but don't match
  • Form submissions with accidental leading spaces
  • API exports with inconsistent spacing

Example

All leading and trailing spaces removed from every cell.

Before

NameCityCode
Alice New York NYC
Bob LondonLON

After

NameCityCode
AliceNew YorkNYC
BobLondonLON

Frequently asked questions

Does it remove spaces inside cell values?

No. Only leading and trailing whitespace is removed. Spaces within a value (like 'New York') are preserved.

Can I trim specific columns only?

Yes. Use the column selector to choose which columns to clean. All other columns are left untouched.

Does it handle tabs and other whitespace characters?

Yes. Tabs, carriage returns, and multiple spaces at the start or end of a cell are all stripped.

Will my column headers be trimmed too?

Yes. Header row values are also trimmed, which prevents silent mismatches in downstream processing.

Is this free to use?

Trim whitespace is available on the free plan for files up to 5 MB. Larger files require a Pro or Business subscription.