diff --git a/src/pycel/excelformula.py b/src/pycel/excelformula.py
index 23ab237..3596022 100644
--- a/src/pycel/excelformula.py
+++ b/src/pycel/excelformula.py
@@ -63,7 +63,12 @@ def _items(self):
 
         # convert or remove unneeded whitespace
         tokens = []
+        consumed = False
         for prev_token, token, next_token in zip(t, t[1:], t[2:]):
+            last_token = tokens[-1] if tokens else prev_token
+            if consumed:
+                consumed = False
+                continue
             if token.type != Token.WSPACE or not prev_token or not next_token:
                 # ::HACK:: this is code to make the tokenizer behave like
                 # this change to the openpyxl tokenizer.
@@ -92,6 +97,15 @@ def _items(self):
                 elif not token.matches(type_=Token.OP_PRE, value='+'):
                     tokens.append(token)
 
+            elif token.type == Token.WSPACE and \
+                    last_token.matches(type_=Token.OPERAND, subtype=Token.RANGE) and \
+                    next_token.matches(type_=Token.OPERAND, subtype=Token.RANGE) and \
+                    any(c in '!:' for c in (last_token.value[-1], next_token.value[0])):
+                tokens.pop()
+                tokens.append(Token(last_token.value + next_token.value,
+                                    type_=Token.OPERAND, subtype=Token.RANGE))
+                consumed = True
+
             elif (
                 prev_token.matches(type_=Token.FUNC, subtype=Token.CLOSE) or
                 prev_token.matches(type_=Token.PAREN, subtype=Token.CLOSE) or
diff --git a/tests/test_excelformula.py b/tests/test_excelformula.py
index ad5ec7c..87b5da1 100644
--- a/tests/test_excelformula.py
+++ b/tests/test_excelformula.py
@@ -67,6 +67,34 @@ def stringify_rpn(e):
         '=SUM(B5:B15 A7:D7)',
         'B5:B15|A7:D7| |SUM',
         'sum_(_R_(str(_REF_("B5:B15") & _REF_("A7:D7"))))'),
+    FormulaTest(
+        '=SUM( sheet1!A1:A2)',
+        'sheet1!A1:A2|SUM',
+        'sum_(_R_("sheet1!A1:A2"))'),
+    FormulaTest(
+        '=SUM(sheet1!A1:A2 )',
+        'sheet1!A1:A2|SUM',
+        'sum_(_R_("sheet1!A1:A2"))'),
+    FormulaTest(
+        '=SUM(sheet1! A1:A2)',
+        'sheet1!A1:A2|SUM',
+        'sum_(_R_("sheet1!A1:A2"))'),
+    FormulaTest(
+        '=SUM(sheet1 !A1:A2)',
+        'sheet1!A1:A2|SUM',
+        'sum_(_R_("sheet1!A1:A2"))'),
+    FormulaTest(
+        '=SUM(sheet1!A1 :A2)',
+        'sheet1!A1:A2|SUM',
+        'sum_(_R_("sheet1!A1:A2"))'),
+    FormulaTest(
+        '=SUM(sheet1!A1: A2)',
+        'sheet1!A1:A2|SUM',
+        'sum_(_R_("sheet1!A1:A2"))'),
+    FormulaTest(
+        '=SUM(sheet1!A1 : A2)',
+        'sheet1!A1:A2|SUM',
+        'sum_(_R_("sheet1!A1:A2"))'),
     FormulaTest(
         '=SUM((A:A,1:1))',
         'A:A|1:1|,|SUM',