How to Find Product Codes with the Wrong Length in Excel?

Whether you're checking product codes, employee IDs, order numbers, or phone numbers, finding cells with a specific text length is a common data validation task.

In this article, we'll show you how to find text with a specific length using Excel formulas and filters, as well as a much faster method with Kutools for Excel's Super Find feature.

Excel vs. Kutools Super Find

Common Use Cases

Finding text by length is useful for many business scenarios, including:

• Validating product codes
• Checking employee IDs
• Verifying order numbers
• Reviewing customer account numbers
• Finding invalid phone numbers
• Checking postal codes
• Auditing inventory SKUs
• Cleaning imported data

Method 1: Find Text with a Specific Length Using Excel

Excel doesn't have a built-in command for searching by text length, but you can combine the LEN function with Filter.

Step 1. Add a Helper Column

Assume your text is in column A.

In B2, enter:

Press Enter, then drag the formula down.

The helper column now displays the number of characters in each cell.

Step 2. Filter the Results

Select your table.

Go to:

Click the filter arrow on the helper column.

Now you can display cells whose length is not equal to 10:

Click OK.

Now, all product codes whose length is not equal to 10 have been listed.

Step 3 (Optional). Highlight the wrong product codes

Select the filtered product codes.

Go to Home > Fill Color, select a background color to fill the wrong codes.

Step 4 (Optional). Remove the filter and helper column

Select your table.

Go to Data > Filter

Select the helper column, press the Delete key.

Limitations

Although this method works well, it has several drawbacks.

You need to:

• Insert a helper column.
• Write and copy formulas.
• Apply filters manually.
• Remove the helper column if you no longer need it.

If you only want to locate cells with a certain text length, the process can feel unnecessarily time-consuming.

Method 2: Find Text with a Specific Length Using Super Find

Kutools for Excel's Super Find lets you search for text based on its character length without adding formulas or helper columns.

Select the product codes.

Go to:

In the Super Find pane:

1. Choose Selection from the Within drop-down list.
2. Identify Find in text.
3. Choose Text as the search type.
4. Choose the condition you need:
5. Enter the desired length.
6. Click Find.

For example:

Only text strings containing fewer than or more than 10 characters appear in the results.

Review Results One by One.

If you want to select all results and highlight them:

Click Select in the bottom-right corner of the pane

Then go to Home > Fill Color to select a background color

One of Super Find's biggest advantages is its interactive results list.

Instead of only filtering the worksheet, Super Find displays every matching cell in a results pane.

You can:

• Click any result to jump directly to that cell.
• Review matches one by one.
• Correct errors immediately.
• Continue checking without repeating the search.

This is especially useful when reviewing large worksheets with hundreds or thousands of records.

Tutorial Demo