Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 1, 2018)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
Brenda has a lot of information that has been imported or pasted into a worksheet. Sometimes the text in the worksheet will contain "foreign" and strange characters. She wonders if there is a way to easily convert the data so that it contains no non-ASCII characters and, perhaps, some foreign characters are converted to regular ASCII values (such as converting accented letters to non-accented letters).
There are a couple of things you can try. First, you can use the CLEAN worksheet function to get rid of non-printable characters. Just use the function in this manner:
=CLEAN(A1)
The result is "cleaned" text, without the non-printables. If you want to replace foreign characters with regular ASCII characters, that will need to be done with a macro. Here's an example of a relatively straightforward approach:
Sub StripAccent()
Dim sAcc As String
Dim sReg As String
Dim sA As String
Dim sR As String
Dim i As Integer
sAcc = "������������������������������������������������������������"
sReg = "SZszYAAAAAACEEEEIIIIDNOOOOOUUUUYaaaaaaceeeeiiiidnooooouuuuyy"
For i = 1 To Len(sAcc)
sA = Mid(sAcc, i, 1)
sR = Mid(sReg, i, 1)
Selection.Replace What:=sA, Replacement:=sR, _
LookAt:=xlPart, MatchCase:=True
Next
End Sub
The macro steps through the characters in the sAcc variable and, one at a time, uses Find and Replace to replace them with the corresponding character in the sReg variable. You can adjust the contents of sAcc and sReg to reflect your conversion needs; the key is to make sure that they are both the same length.
Note:
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (11492) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.
Program Successfully in Excel! This guide will provide you with all the information you need to automate any task in Excel and save time and effort. Learn how to extend Excel's functionality with VBA to create solutions not possible with the standard features. Includes latest information for Excel 2024 and Microsoft 365. Check out Mastering Excel VBA Programming today!
Reports and other formal documents are often distributed in PDF format so that they can be read and printed on a variety ...
Discover MoreYou can easily use formulas to pull apart text stored in a cell. For instance, if you need to pull individual characters ...
Discover MoreYou know what time it is, right? (Quick—look at your watch.) What if you want to know what time it is in Greenwich, ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2018-11-22 14:24:52
Lily marconnet
I tried the clean function but its not working for me :( anything else you could advise? thank you!
Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments