Excel Data Cleaning: Five Checks Before You Analyse Anything

Before you build charts, check whether the rows and columns mean what you think they mean. Look for duplicate records, inconsistent dates, numbers stored as text, missing values and categories written in several different ways.nnKeep an untouched copy of the raw data. Do cleaning in a separate table or reproducible step so you can explain what changed. When you replace or remove values, document the rule. Avoid silently deleting records just because they are inconvenient.nnFinally, test totals against something you already trust. A simple reconciliation can reveal that a beautiful dashboard is based on broken inputs.