How to prevent special characters entering in Excel?

For some cases, we just want to enter letters or numbers in cells, and prevent typing the special characters, such as @#$%& and so on. Are there any functions in Excel to prevent the special characters entering when we insert values?

Prevent special characters entering with Data Validation

Prevent special characters entering with VBA code

Prevent special characters entering with Kutools for Excel

Prevent special characters entering with Data Validation

Excel’ Data Validation can help to allow you only to enter the alphanumeric values. Please do as follows:

1. Select a range that you want to prevent the special characters entering.

2. Then click Data > Data Validation > Data Validation, see screenshot:

3. In the Data Validation dialog box, click Settings tab, and choose Custom from the Allow drop down list, then enter this formula =ISNUMBER(SUMPRODUCT(SEARCH(MID(A1,ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&LEN(A1))),1),"0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"))) into the Formula text box, see screenshot:

Note:A1 indicates the first cell of your selected range (from left to right).

4. Then click OK to close this dialog, and now when you enter values which contain the special characters in the specified column you have apply the option, you will get the following warning message.

Prevent special characters entering with VBA code

The following VBA code also can help you to prevent the special characters while entering the text values.

1. Hold down the ALT + F11 keys, and it opens the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window.

2. Then choose your used worksheet from the left Project Explorer, double click it to open the Module, and then copy and paste following VBA code into the blank Module:

VBA code: prevent special characters entering in Excel

Private Const FCheckRgAddress As String = "A1:A100"
Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range)
'Update 20140905
    Dim xChanged As Range
    Dim xRg As Range
    Dim xString As String
    Dim sErrors As String
    Dim xRegExp As Variant
    Dim xHasErr As Boolean
    Set xChanged = Application.Intersect(Range(FCheckRgAddress), Target)
    If xChanged Is Nothing Then Exit Sub
    Set xRegExp = CreateObject("VBScript.RegExp")
    xRegExp.Global = True
    xRegExp.IgnoreCase = True
    xRegExp.Pattern = "[^0-9a-z]"
    For Each xRg In xChanged
        If xRegExp.Test(xRg.Value) Then
            xHasErr = True
            Application.EnableEvents = False
            xRg.ClearContents
            Application.EnableEvents = True
        End If
    Next
    If xHasErr Then MsgBox "These cells had invalid entries and have been cleared:"
End Sub

Note: In the above code, you can change the range A1: A100 of Private Const FCheckRgAddress As String = "A1:A100" script to your own range that you want to prevent the special characters.

3. Then save and close this code, and now, when you enter text values with some special characters in the range A1:A100, your value will be cleared at once, and you can get the following warning message.

Prevent special characters entering with Kutools for Excel

Actually, if you have Kutools for Excel -- a handy and multi-functional tool, you can quickly prevent typing special characters in a selection with its Prevent Typing utility by one check.

After installing Kutools for Excel, please do as below:(Free Download Kutools for Excel Now!)

1. Select a selection you want to prevent special characters typing, and click Kutools > Prevent Typing > Prevent Typing. See screenshot:

2. In the Prevent Typing dialog, check Prevent type in special characters option. See screenshot:

3. Click Ok, and a dialog pops out to remind you it will remove Data Validation if apply this utility and click Yes to go to next dialog, it will remind you the utility has been work at the section. see screenshot:

4. Click OK to close the dialog, and from now on, a warning dialog pops out when you try to enter a special character in the selection.

Tip.If you want to stop typing duplicate values in a column, please try to use the Kutools for Excel’s Prevent Duplicate as shown in the following screenshot. It’s full function without limitation in 30 days, please download and have a free trial now.

  Prevent Special Characters Entering

Related articles:

How to prevent entering values with spaces in Excel?

How to prevent duplicate entries in a column in Excel?