CLEAN in SoftMaker PlanMaker 2026: Remove Nonprinting Characters

Text imported from exports, scanners, web pages and copy/paste operations sometimes contains hidden line breaks or control characters. Such characters can complicate comparisons, printed labels and inventory records. CLEAN makes a new value in the formula cell; it does not modify the input cell. For example, an identifier that appears to be RD may actually have an embedded line feed and might not compare to the plain two-character identifier.

Use CLEAN for a cautious first pass on low-code control characters, then inspect whether you also need to remove surrounding spaces with TRIM. If your imported text contains meaningful line breaks, cleaning them may join two words together. Retain the originals until validated.

=CLEAN(Text)

Text (required): a text literal in double quotation marks, a cell reference such as A2, or a formula expression returning text. The official 2026 manual lists exactly one argument, with no optional argument or documented default. A single-argument CLEAN call has no comma/semicolon separator; the names and separator conventions of other functions may depend on application language and locale. These examples use the English-language function names in SoftMaker’s English manuals.

What gets removed: the 2026 PlanMaker PDF manual, printed page 565, explicitly describes nonprinting characters with ANSI codes below 32. The 2024 and 2021 reference pages agree on this rule. That describes values 0–31; it does not establish that other invisible spaces, Unicode controls, nonbreaking spaces (160) or characters with code 127+ will be removed. SoftMaker PlanMaker 2026 PDF (p. 565; checked 2026-10-11); 2024 CLEAN; 2021 CLEAN (both checked 2026-10-11).

Create a fresh worksheet. Put Imported source in A1, CLEAN formula in B1, and Expected display in C1. Enter the formula or text below in the specified A cell and the B formula next to it. When you type a formula into A, start it with =; formulas are deliberate here so you need not paste invisible characters manually. Each C entry is an expected result inferred from documentation and independently computed as an ANSI/ASCII text operation, not observed output from PlanMaker.

Why CHAR(10) and CHAR(13)? PlanMaker’s 2026 manual documents the CHAR function for numeric codes and states a lower bound of 10. These two character codes therefore avoid the lower codes that are not valid CHAR arguments in that reference; no CHAR(9) or CHAR(0) examples are used. PlanMaker 2026 manual (CHAR reference; checked 2026-10-11). Control-character displays may look like extra line breaks; inspect the formula bar if needed.

How to check your own result: enter B2 as =CLEAN(A2) and compare with RD in the table. Enter B4, then use the formula =LEN(A4)-LEN(B4) in D4. The documented-behavior expected number is 2, because the A4 expression contains two control characters that CLEAN removes. LEN is documented separately in the 2026 reference. This counting technique avoids trusting visually invisible characters.

Independent calculation vs. native execution

The exact short strings in this guide were calculated outside PlanMaker using a rule that removes character codes 0–31 and retains ordinary spaces; results shown are expected, not PlanMaker screenshots or observed application results. The reference documentation supplies the operation’s stated semantics. Native testing, control-character encoding and platform-specific behavior remain to be checked before approval. In particular, the string concatenation operator & is used in the example expressions but has not been independently executed in the target build during this run.

1. Remove control characters, then trim outer spaces

Using A7 above, enter =TRIM(CLEAN(A7)) in D7. Under the documented behavior of both PlanMaker functions, the expected result is East: CLEAN removes the carriage return and line feed, then TRIM removes the two leading and two trailing ordinary spaces. This is a documentation-derived combined prediction and has not been observed in the application.

2. Identify extra control characters by comparing lengths

With A4 above, enter =LEN(A4) and =LEN(CLEAN(A4)) in separate cells. Expected results are 5 and 3. =LEN(A4)-LEN(CLEAN(A4)) therefore gives 2. This helps inspect incoming data before destructive cleanup. The difference counts characters removed from that one value; it is not a general diagnostic for all kinds of invisible Unicode text.

3. Avoid joining fields accidentally

In A8, Line1 and Line2 are separated only by a line feed. CLEAN gives the expected Line1Line2, not Line1 Line2. If line breaks are meaningful field separators, decide on a replacement delimiter first; avoid indiscriminately applying CLEAN to an entire database column.

• Ordinary spaces remain: CLEAN targets documented low-code nonprinting characters, not code-32 ordinary spaces. Use TRIM separately to remove edge spaces.
• Some invisible characters remain: this is plausible for nonbreaking spaces or Unicode controls outside the vendor’s stated code range. The exact treatment is not validated here; inspect the character source and installed application before promising removal.
• The original cell remains dirty: formulas write a calculated result to their own cells. Do not assume they edit the reference cell.
• A formula displays as text: check the leading =, quotation marks, parentheses and whether the destination cell is formatted as text.
• CHAR-based test shows an error: this guide intentionally uses 10 and 13, because the 2026 vendor reference specifies a minimum CHAR argument of 10. Do not substitute a lower number without checking support.
• A formula references an error cell or a number: the vendor’s CLEAN reference does not establish every coercion or error-code outcome. Test this input before documenting a specific returned error.
• More than 32-code control characters: do not assume CLEAN removes all Unicode control characters, HTML tags, formatting artifacts, or whitespace kinds.

The PlanMaker 2021, 2024 and 2026 English references all document CLEAN(Text) and the below-32 ANSI condition (checked 2026-10-11). These pages do not establish first release, free-versus-paid edition support, parity on Windows/macOS/Linux/Android/iOS, or results for every encoding. The 2026 PDF belongs to the SoftMaker Office 2026/NX manual family, rather than a verified execution on every device.

Microsoft Excel documents CLEAN as removing the first 32 nonprinting ASCII control characters (0–31) and warns of additional Unicode nonprinting codes that CLEAN itself does not remove. This supports the simple ASCII examples, not a guarantee of identical PlanMaker and Excel behavior for imported code pages, emoji, Unicode spaces or file conversion. Microsoft CLEAN reference (accessed 2026-10-11). Any claim about preserving CLEAN formulas through .xlsx or legacy .xls export requires round-trip testing, which has not occurred.

• PlanMaker 2026 function catalogue — confirms CLEAN and TRIM are separately named (checked 2026-10-11).
• PlanMaker 2026 PDF manual — CLEAN p. 565 and TRIM p. 842; retrieved and visually checked 2026-10-11.
• PlanMaker 2024 CLEAN reference and 2021 CLEAN reference — exact one-argument syntax and below-32 rule; checked 2026-10-11.
• PlanMaker 2024 TRIM reference — edge-space removal; checked 2026-10-11.
• Excel CLEAN documentation — cross-software caution, checked 2026-10-11.

• SoftMaker PlanMaker — function documentation
• 2024 CLEAN
• 2021 CLEAN
• PlanMaker 2026 function catalogue
• PlanMaker 2024 TRIM reference

Verification status: Official documentation checked; example outcomes were independently reasoned or arithmetically checked where applicable. Not executed in SoftMaker PlanMaker.

• No genuine SoftMaker PlanMaker screenshots are included; this guide does not use mock application images.