When I download contact address information from Outlook to an XL file, many
times there appears a square 'box' character in the cell where either (a) a
comma would have been separating street from say, suite # in the same line or
(b) where a return would have been (street address <return> city/state/zip)
in the address card (and sometimes more than one "box" for multiple
returns). I have tried to search and replace to change or delete the
character, but I am unable to grab it, and thus have to manually adjust each
cell. A daunting task with 4000+ entries....

The "box" character only appears in the formula field bar -- when viewing the
cell in the sheet, it appears as two vertical lines (like a double lower case
L).

What is this character called how do I get rid of it globally in the sheet
??? Thx

Chip Pearson has a very nice addin that will help determine what that
character(s) is:
http://www.cpearson.com/excel/CellView.aspx

You may be able to use Edit|Replace to change the character--Some characters can
be entered by holding the alt-key and typing the hex number on the numeric
keypad. For example, alt-0010 (or ctrl-j) can be used for linefeeds. But I've
never been able to get alt-0013 to work for carriage returns.

Another alternative is to fix it via a formula:

=substitute(a1,char(##),"")
or
=substitute(a1,char(##)," ")

Replace ## with the ASCII value you see in Chip's addin.

Or you could use a macro (after using Chip's CellView addin):

Option Explicit
Sub cleanEmUp()

Dim myBadChars As Variant
Dim myGoodChars As Variant
Dim iCtr As Long

myBadChars = Array(Chr(##), Chr(##)) '<--What showed up in CellView?

myGoodChars = Array(" ","") '<--what's the new character, "" for nothing?

If UBound(myGoodChars) <> UBound(myBadChars) Then
MsgBox "Design error!"
Exit Sub
End If

For iCtr = LBound(myBadChars) To UBound(myBadChars)
ActiveSheet.Cells.Replace What:=myBadChars(iCtr), _
Replacement:=myGoodChars(iCtr), _
LookAt:=xlPart, SearchOrder:=xlByRows, _
MatchCase:=False
Next iCtr

End Sub

If you're new to macros:

Debra Dalgleish has some notes how to implement macros here:
http://www.contextures.com/xlvba01.html

David McRitchie has an intro to macros:
http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/getstarted.htm

Ron de Bruin's intro to macros:
http://www.rondebruin.nl/code.htm

(General, Regular and Standard modules all describe the same thing.)

JaxHBT wrote:
>
> When I download contact address information from Outlook to an XL file, many
> times there appears a square 'box' character in the cell where either (a) a
> comma would have been separating street from say, suite # in the same line or
> (b) where a return would have been (street address <return> city/state/zip)
> in the address card (and sometimes more than one "box" for multiple
> returns). I have tried to search and replace to change or delete the
> character, but I am unable to grab it, and thus have to manually adjust each
> cell. A daunting task with 4000+ entries....
>
> The "box" character only appears in the formula field bar -- when viewing the
> cell in the sheet, it appears as two vertical lines (like a double lower case
> L).
>
> What is this character called how do I get rid of it globally in the sheet
> ??? Thx

--

Dave Peterson