The TRIMRANGE Excel Formula

October 7, 2025

Have you ever referenced an entire row or column and wondered if Excel is doing too much additional processing? If so, the TRIMRANGE formula can help!

The TRIMRANGE formula makes your Excel file more efficient by removing extra rows and columns from a formula. This can be used to create row and column references without impacting Excel performance.

The syntax is written as:

=TRIMRANGE(range,[trim_rows],[trim_cols])

Range: The range to be trimmed

Trim_rows: defines which rows should be trimmed

0 – None

1 – Leading blank rows

2 – Trailing blank rows

3 – Leading and trailing blank rows (default option)

Trim_columns: defines which columns should be trimmed

0 – None

1 – Leading blank columns

2 – Trailing blank columns

3 – Leading and trailing blank columns (default option)

For example, instead of using a full column reference:

=XLOOKUP(“CRP – Corporate”,A:A,C:C)

You can instead use TRIMRANGE:

=XLOOKUP(“CRP – Corporate”,TRIMRANGE(A:A),TRIMRANGE(C:C))

Trim References

Shortcuts can be used when defining the range by using a period before and/or after the colon in a range reference.

A.:.A trims leading and trailing blanks

A.:A trims leading blanks

A:.A trims trailing blanks

This approach will make your spreadsheets more efficient and improve the overall performance.

Revelwood is an IBM Gold Business Partner with more than 30 years of experience designing, developing, implementing and maintaining IBM Planning Analytics environments. We focus on solutions for the Office of Finance and have partnered with clients of all sizes across all industries to optimize, enhance and expand their use of Planning Analytics. Revelwood’s Planning Analytics team consists of PA experts with decades of experience, and we have been recognized via awards including IBM Champion status.

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Author

Ivan Cepero

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