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How to apply data validation to force phone number format in Excel?

May be, there are various phone number formats can be used when typing into the Excel workbook. But, how could you only allow one phone number format to be entered in a column of worksheet? For example, I just want the phone number as this format 123-456-7890 to be allowed entering in a worksheet.

Apply data validation to force phone number format with Data Validation feature

Apply data validation to force phone number format with a useful feature


Apply data validation to force phone number format with Data Validation feature

To only allow specific phone number format to be entered, you can solve it with the following steps:

First, you can format the cells to the phone number format as you need.

1. Select the list of cells that you want to only type with the specific phone number format, and then right click, choose Format Cells form the context menu, see screenshot:

2. In the Format Cells dialog box, under the Number tab, click Custom from the left Category pane, and then enter the phone number format as you need into the Type text box, in this example, I will use this ###-###-#### format, see screenshot:

3. And then click OK to close the dialog.

Second, you can apply the Data Validation feature to validate the phone number.

4. After formatting the cells, please click Data > Data Validation > Data Validation, see screenshot:

5. In the Data Validation dialog box, under the Settings tab, select Custom from the Allow drop down, and then enter this formula: =AND(ISNUMBER(A2),LEN(A2)=10) into the Formula text box, see screenshot:

Note: In the above formula, A2 is the first cell of the column that you want to validate the phone number.

6. And then click OK button, now, when you enter a 10 digits number, it will be converted to the specific phone number format automatically as you need, see screenshot:

7. But if the number is shorter or longer than 10 digits, a warning message box will appear to remind you, see screenshot:


Apply data validation to force phone number format with a useful feature

If you have Kutools for Excel, with its Validate Phone Number feature, you can specify the phone number formatting that you just want to enter in a worksheet. Click to download Kutools for Excel!

Tips: To apply this Validate Phone Number feature, firstly, you should download the Kutools for Excel, and then apply the feature quickly and easily.

After installing Kutools for Excel, please do as this:

1. Select the range of cells that you want to only specific phone number allow to be entered,then, click Kutools > Prevent Typing > Validate Phone Number, see screenshot:

2. In the Phone number dialog box, select the specific phone number format or you can set your own formatting as you need, see screenshot:

3. Then, click OK button to close the dialog box, now, only the phone number with the formatting can be entered, if the phone number is not the formatting you specified, a warning message will popped out to remind you, see screenshot:

Click to Download Kutools for Excel and free trial Now!


More relative data validation articles:

  • Validate Email Addresses In A Column Of Worksheet
  • As we all known, a valid email address is composed of three parts, the user name, the "at symbol" (@), and the domain. Sometimes, you just allow others to enter only the email address format text into a specific column of worksheet. Is it possible to achieve this task in Excel?
  • Apply Multiple Data Validation In One Cell In Excel
  • In Excel worksheet, applying one data validation to a cell may be common for us, but, have you ever tried to use multiple data validation into one cell? This article, I will talk about some different examples for solving this task in Excel.
  • Data Validation The Date Of Current Year In Excel Worksheet
  • In Excel, the Data Validation is a useful feature for us, with it, we can prevent duplicate cells, allow the specific date to be entered, and so on. This article, I will talk about how to allow only the dates of the current year to be entered by using the Data Validation function in Excel worksheet.

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Comments (6)
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This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
what if the the entry begin in 0
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Hi, JHUN,
To solve your problem, you can apply the Validate Phone Number of Kutools for Excel, with this feature, you can set various phone numbers as you need. You just need to download and install the Kutools first.

Please try, thank you!
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Hi, I know it could be different but how can i validate a country code in front of the phone number for different countries? Eg, ISO code shows 65 for Singapore and phone number format must be 65 6123 4567 or 82 for Korea and phone number format is 82 1234 4567. Without any symbols. Appreciate your help.
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Hello, Rach,
To solve your problem, you just need to use this ## #### #### format in the Format Cells dialog box in step 2. And then follow the above other steps one by one. At last, when you enter a 10 digits number, it will be converted to the phone number format you need automatically.

Please try, hope it can help you!
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Hi. I tried this for my data validation. but how come it didn't work on numbers that starts with zero? eg. 012-345-6789
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
I know it has been 6 months, but here is the answer : The cell is setup to deal with numbers of lenght 10, but a number cannot start with ''0'' (ex: 01 is still 1).


The cell and formulas used should refer to a string instead and this would fix the problem, but would allow people to have letters and you most likely don't want that.
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