Clean an Excel file
Trim values, remove empty rows and duplicates.
What does this template do?
Trim values, remove empty rows and duplicates.
This template prepares an Excel or CSV export before you reuse it: it removes stray spaces at the start and end of cells, deletes completely empty rows, then keeps a single copy of each identical row. The result is ready for sorting, a pivot table or an import into another program.
Pipeline steps
This template automatically chains 5 steps in the Workspace. You can review every setting before running it.
- 1Import a spreadsheet
- 2Trim whitespace
- 3Remove empty rows
- 4Remove duplicate rows
- 5Export the table
Why the steps come in this order
Spaces are cleaned first, so “Smith” and “Smith␣” become identical and are recognised as duplicates. Empty rows are removed before looking for duplicates; otherwise every empty row would count as the same repeated row. Deduplication comes last, on values that are already clean.
When should you use this template?
- Clean a contact list exported from a CRM before importing it elsewhere.
- Remove repeated rows after pasting several extracts one below the other.
- Prepare a file received by email before computing statistics.
Local processing in your browser
When the selected modules support local processing, your files stay on your device while the Pipeline runs.
Settings to check
- Sheet: for a workbook, choose the sheet to process when importing.
- Export format: Excel (XLSX) by default, CSV or JSON as alternatives, with the file name “pipeline-result” to adapt.
- The three cleaning steps have no settings: they apply to every column.
Example
- Before
- 1,250 rows, 40 of them empty and 85 exact duplicates, with trailing spaces after names.
- After
- 1,125 unique rows without extra spaces, as XLSX.
Limits to know
- Two rows are only duplicates when every cell is identical: “smith” and “Smith” remain two rows.
- The first occurrence is kept; if duplicates differ in one column, they are not merged.
- Formulas, colours and merged cells are not carried over: only values are exported.