How to Delete Punctuation in Excel

The "Find and Replace" feature makes it easy to remove unwanted text on a large scale.

Microsoft Excel is a popular spreadsheet program that can be used for anything from keeping books for a business to creating a calendar for an office. Microsoft has provided several built-in formulas to assist the user when working with Excel. The "Substitute" formula -- which allows you to take letters or symbols from a cell and replace them with others -- can assist you in replacing unwanted punctuation with other characters. But if you want to delete punctuation completely, you'll need to use the "Find and Replace" function.

Instructions

1. Hold down the "Ctrl" button and then press the "H" button; this will bring up the "Find and Replace" dialog box.

2. Type the punctuation that you wish to delete in the "Find what:" box. Leave the "Replace with:" box empty, as you wish to delete the punctuation.

3. Click the "Replace All" button. Every instance of the punctuation that you selected on the spreadsheet will disappear.

4. Repeat the process for other punctuation that you wish to delete. Only one type of punctuation can be deleted at a time.

References

• Microsoft: How to Use the Find and Replace Dialog Box in Excel