How to Remove Leading or Trailing Zeros in Excel

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Quickly remove zeros from your spreadsheets

Written by Nicole Levine, MFA

Last Updated: December 16, 2024 Tested

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Removing Leading Zeros

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Removing Trailing Zeros

This wikiHow teaches you how to remove zeros from the beginning (Leading) or end (Trailing) of numbers in Excel.

How to Remove Zeroes in Excel

Highlight and right click the cells, then click “Format Cells.” For leading zeros, click “Number” and type “0” in “Decimal Places.” For trailing zeros, click “Custom” and type 0.### in the box marked “Type.”

Part 1

Part 1 of 2:

Removing Leading Zeros

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If you’re working with numbers in a column, you can highlight the whole column by clicking the column letter.
If your computer doesn’t have a right mouse button, press Ctrl as you click with the left. A menu will appear.

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The Format Cells dialog will appear.
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Click OK . It’s at the bottom-right corner of the screen. This brings you back to your spreadsheet, where you should no longer see zeros before your numbers.
- If you still see leading zeros, double-click the cells, then press ↵ Enter or ⏎ Return .

Part 2

Part 2 of 2:

Removing Trailing Zeros

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If you’re working with numbers in a column, you can highlight the whole column by clicking the column letter.
If your computer doesn’t have a right mouse button, press Ctrl as you click with the left. A menu will appear.
The Format Cells dialog will appear.
If any text is in the box, delete it now. Then, type 0.### into the box.
You will no longer see extraneous zeros at the ends of your numbers.