Ever have a data set that was nice enough, but really just needed a spiffing up? A little sparkle? A finishing touch before it makes its debut? Let’s learn how to use the perfect pairing of functions to take our data from a little slouchy to pristine and polished!!
First, let’s take a look at the Proper function. This function will capitalize the first letter of every word in a text string and convert all other letters to lowercase, so our data looks clean and consistent. We’ll pair the Proper function with the Trim function, which removes any extra spaces in a text string to leave only one space between each word.
Take a look at the example GIF above. When we were sent this name list, we thought it had to be a prank. What happened to this data? Who would leave their poor cells like this? Lucky for us (and for this tragic data set), we can fix it! First, we’ll enter the Proper function to fix the capitalization of each name, then enter the trim function to remove extra spaces, and finally we’ll select cell B3 as our reference cell. Now, we’ll need to close both functions by entering a double parenthesis, then just hit enter and we’re done!
