The ASAP Utilities menu in Excel (English)
Keep Only the First X Characters...
ASAP Utilities › Text › 21. Keep Only the First X Characters...This tool removes all characters that come after a specified number of characters in the selected Excel cells.
Only the first X characters are kept. It is helpful for shortening values to a fixed length, such as trimming IDs, codes, or names. It works with both text and numbers.
Formulas are replaced with their calculated values before processing.
Cells that contain dates are skipped. Examples where you kept only the first X characters:
Screenshots
Example screenshot: Keep the first characters
Starting this tool
- Click ASAP Utilities › Text › 21. Keep Only the First X Characters...
- Specify a Keyboard Shortcut: ASAP Utilities › My Tools & Shortcuts › Manage My Tools & Shortcuts...
Additional keywords for this tool:
Keep first X characters, Truncate text to fixed length, Remove after X characters, Trim after certain length, Shorten cell content, Keep only beginning of text, Cut off text after X characters, Remove everything after position, Truncate strings, Keep first part of string, Trim string by character count, Limit cell text length, Keep leftmost characters, Remove text after certain length, Excel LEFT function alternative, Cut text after certain number of characters, Clean up long codes or IDs, Remove characters after length, Shorten imported text values
Keep first X characters, Truncate text to fixed length, Remove after X characters, Trim after certain length, Shorten cell content, Keep only beginning of text, Cut off text after X characters, Remove everything after position, Truncate strings, Keep first part of string, Trim string by character count, Limit cell text length, Keep leftmost characters, Remove text after certain length, Excel LEFT function alternative, Cut text after certain number of characters, Clean up long codes or IDs, Remove characters after length, Shorten imported text values
Choose your language preference below
English (us) ⁄ Nederlands ⁄ Deutsch ⁄ Español ⁄ Français ⁄ Português do Brasil ⁄ Italiano ⁄ Русский ⁄ 中文(简体) ⁄ 日本語
| Remove Last X Characters... |
©1999-2025 ∙ ASAP Utilities ∙ A Must in Every Office BV ∙ The Netherlands
🏆 Winner of the "Best Microsoft Excel Add-in" Award at the Global Excel Summit 2025 in London!
For over 25 years, ASAP Utilities has helped users worldwide save time and do what Excel alone cannot.
🏆 Winner of the "Best Microsoft Excel Add-in" Award at the Global Excel Summit 2025 in London!
For over 25 years, ASAP Utilities has helped users worldwide save time and do what Excel alone cannot.