Skip to main content

Kutools for Office — One Suite. Five Tools. Get More Done.

How to show only first nth characters in a cell string?

Author Sun Last modified

Have you ever tried to only show the first nth characters of a string in Excel as below screenshot shown? In this article, I introduce some tricks to help you show only the first nth characters in a cell string for you.

A screenshot showing a list of strings in Excel where only the first nth characters are displayed

Show only first nth characters with formula

arrow blue right bubble Show only first nth characters with formula

In this case, I show only the first 3 characters in a string.

Select a blank cell which you will only show first 3 characters of the given string, and enter this formula =LEFT(A1,3), drag fill handle down to over the cells you want to show only first 3 characters. See screenshot:
A screenshot showing how the LEFT function is used in Excel to display only the first nth characters of a string

Note: If there are some spaces in your strings which you want to ignore when show only nth characters, you can apply this formula =LEFT(SUBSTITUTE(A1," ",""),3).

Tip.If you want to quickly remove characters by position, please try to use the Kutools for Excel’s Remove by Position as shown in the following screenshot. Please download and have a free trial now.

A screenshot of Kutools for Excel’s 'Remove by Position' feature for removing characters by position in a string

Best Office Productivity Tools

🤖 Kutools AI Aide: Revolutionize data analysis based on: Intelligent Execution   |  Generate Code  |  Create Custom Formulas  |  Analyze Data and Generate Charts  |  Invoke Kutools Functions…
Popular Features: Find, Highlight or Identify Duplicates   |  Delete Blank Rows   |  Combine Columns or Cells without Losing Data   |   Round without Formula ...
Super Lookup: Multiple Criteria VLookup  |   Multiple Value VLookup  |   VLookup Across Multiple Sheets   |   Fuzzy Lookup ....
Advanced Drop-down List: Quickly Create Drop Down List   |  Dependent Drop Down List   |  Multi-select Drop Down List ....
Column Manager: Add a Specific Number of Columns  |  Move Columns  |  Toggle Visibility Status of Hidden Columns  |  Compare Ranges & Columns ...
Featured Features: Grid Focus   |  Design View   |   Big Formula Bar   |  Workbook & Sheet Manager   |  Resource Library (Auto Text)   |  Date Picker   |  Combine Worksheets   |  Encrypt/Decrypt Cells   |  Send Emails by List   |  Super Filter   |   Special Filter (filter bold/italic/strikethrough...) ...
Top 15 Toolsets:  12 Text Tools (Add Text, Remove Characters, ...)   |   50+ Chart Types (Gantt Chart, ...)   |   40+ Practical Formulas (Calculate age based on birthday, ...)   |   19 Insertion Tools (Insert QR Code, Insert Picture from Path, ...)   |   12 Conversion Tools (Numbers to Words, Currency Conversion, ...)   |   7 Merge & Split Tools (Advanced Combine Rows, Split Cells, ...)   |   ... and more
Use Kutools in your preferred language – supports English, Spanish, German, French, Chinese, and 40+ others!

Supercharge Your Excel Skills with Kutools for Excel, and Experience Efficiency Like Never Before. Kutools for Excel Offers Over 300 Advanced Features to Boost Productivity and Save Time.  Click Here to Get The Feature You Need The Most...

Office Tab Brings Tabbed interface to Office, and Make Your Work Much Easier

  • Enable tabbed editing and reading in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Access, Visio and Project.
  • Open and create multiple documents in new tabs of the same window, rather than in new windows.
  • Increases your productivity by 50%, and reduces hundreds of mouse clicks for you every day!

All Kutools add-ins. One installer

Kutools for Office suite bundles add-ins for Excel, Word, Outlook & PowerPoint plus Office Tab Pro, which is ideal for teams working across Office apps.

Excel Word Outlook Tabs PowerPoint
  • All-in-one suite — Excel, Word, Outlook & PowerPoint add-ins + Office Tab Pro
  • One installer, one license — set up in minutes (MSI-ready)
  • Works better together — streamlined productivity across Office apps
  • 30-day full-featured trial — no registration, no credit card
  • Best value — save vs buying individual add-in