How to Remove Commas in Google Sheets

Google Sheets has a variety of tools to help adjust the formatting of your worksheet. If you want to remove the commas from your data, whether text or numbers, knowing the available techniques for doing so will come in handy.

In this article, we’ll show you how to get rid of commas in Google Sheets.

Removing Commas from Text

The easiest way to remove commas in text entries is the Find and Replace option. This process scans the entire sheet, or the whole project if you define the range, then replaces any word, symbol, or number as required. Commas in text can be easily removed by replacing the symbol with a blank. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Select the entire worksheet, or at least the part of the sheet where you wish the commas to be removed. You can select everything by clicking on the blank space above row 1 and to the left or column A.
   
2. Click on edit and select Find and Replace. Or alternatively, you can use the Shortcut key, Ctrl + H.
   
3. In the Find and Replace window, put a comma in the Find box.
   
4. Leave the Replace with box blank.
   
5. If you wish to search more than the current sheet, you can choose this option in the Search dropdown box.
   
6. Click on Find and then Replace to do the process one by one. Click Replace all to replace all of the commas in the sheet.
   

Do note that even though commas in the numbers will be removed, at least as far as the data is concerned, this won’t change the display. As long as a column, cell, or row is formatted to display a number with a thousand separator, this will be displayed as such.

Converting Numbers to Plain Text

As mentioned before, commas will continue to be displayed even if you remove them with Find and Replace if they retain the Number format. If you wish to change this, it’s a simple matter of selecting the cells that you wish to edit, clicking on Format at the top menu, then clicking on Plain Text.

This won’t remove commas automatically from any numbers that already have them. With the numbers now in Plain Text formatting, however, using the Find and Replace method will now work with them. Follow the given steps above to do this to all the numbers that have been formatted to Plain text.

Custom Number Formatting

If you don’t want to convert your numbers to plain text but still want to remove the commas, you can resort to Custom number formatting. This method allows you to set how any kind of number data will be displayed.

This can be done as follows:

1. Select either the whole sheet, or the cells that you wish formatted.
2. Click on Format, then hover over Number.
3. On the menu that appears, scroll down to the bottom and hover over More Formats.
4. Click on Custom number format.
5. On the window that pops up, pick and choose an existing number formatting option, or create your own.

The 0 format displays numbers without commas, but won’t display decimals. The 0.00 format will do the same but with decimals displayed. You can also use the hashtag symbol to create a custom format. A ####.## format will display numbers without commas, but won’t display any decimal numbers unless they’re greater than 0.

A 0.00 format will display one thousand as 1000.00, while a ####.## format will display it as 1000. You can experiment with the symbols to find the combination that you want.

Removing Commas from Accounting Entries

If you want to remove commas from accounting entries but still want to retain the parenthesis treatment of negative numbers, do the following:

1. Click on the entire sheet, or the cells you wish formatted.
2. Click on Format then hover over Number.
3. Make sure Accounting is checked. If not, click on it to enable it.
4. Click on Format again, then hover over Number, then scroll down to More Formats then Custom Number Formats.
5. The window will now display the formatting code for accounting entries. Delete the commas in the code and click Apply. Avoid changing other symbols or it might cause display errors.
6. Accounting entry numbers should now display without commas.

You can change currencies and other symbols from here as well. Just keep in mind the original arrangement of the format in case you encounter errors in the display. Using the undo and redo keys, or Ctrl + Z and Ctrl + Y, will help in this regard.

Knowing the Right Steps

Being able to customize the formatting of your worksheet is quite useful. It helps keep your data organized, either aesthetically or functionally. Removing the commas from your worksheet is simple as long as you know the right steps.

Do you know of other tips to get rid of commas in Google Sheets? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.