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Easily abbreviate names or words in Excel

Author Siluvia Last modified

Kutools for Excel

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To abbreviate names or words, you can try the array formula of the TEXTJOIN function in Office 365 and Excel 2019, or try the TRIM function in Excel 2016 and the previous versions. As these formulas are too long to remember and has some restrictions, here introduce the Abbreviated name or word formula of Kutools for Excel. With this formula, you can easily abbreviate names or words with several clicks only without remembering any formulas.

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Abbreviate names or words in Excel

Please do as follows to abbreviate names or words with the Abbreviated name or word formula of Kutools for Excel.

1. Select a blank cell to output the result.

2. Click Kutools > Formula Helper > Formula Helper.

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3. In the Formulas Helper dialog box, configure as follows.

3.1) In the Choose a formula list box, choose Abbreviated name or word option;
Tips: Check the Filter box, enter relative characters or words can filter needed formula.
3.2) In the Text box, select the cell containing the name or word you will abbreviate;
3.3) Click OK.

Tips: In the Text box, you should manually change the default absolute cell reference to relative cell reference for dragging the formula correctly with the AutoFill Handle.

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Then you will get the abbreviation in the selected cell. Meanwhile, the corresponding formula will be created.

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Notes:

1. If the length of text string is more than 3 words, only the initial of the first 3 words can be extracted.
2. If there is only one word in the cell, the formula will display an error value.

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Kutools for Excel

Kutools for Excel offers 300+ advanced features to streamline your work in Excel 2010 – 2024 and Microsoft 365. The feature above is just one of many time-saving tools included.

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