Remove First X Characters...

This tool removes a specified number of characters from the beginning of the selected cells.

It's useful when cleaning up imported data and quickly removing fixed prefixes, codes, or extra characters from values such as product IDs, invoice numbers, or department codes.

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 specified to remove the first X characters:

• "INV/20230405" → "20230405" (removed 4 characters)
• "PROD_ABC123" → "ABC123" (removed 5 characters)
• "EMP001234" → "001234" (removed 3 characters)
• "DEPT:Marketing" → "Marketing" (removed 5 characters)

Unlike Excel's LEFT, MID, or RIGHT functions, this tool offers a fast, one-click solution without formulas.

Starting this tool

Additional keywords to help you find this tool:
Remove leading characters, Truncate beginning of cell, Delete first characters, Remove prefix, Cut characters from start of cell, Trim first few characters, Remove fixed text prefix, Remove characters from left, Remove first X characters, Remove string start, Remove text from beginning of cell, Truncate string, Delete start of text, Remove label or code prefix

Tip:Alt+P for the previous tool.