3 Ways To Delete First 3 Characters In Excel

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you need to remove the first three characters from a string of text in Excel? Perhaps you're working with a dataset that has unnecessary characters at the beginning of each entry, or maybe you're trying to reformat a column of data to match a specific format. Whatever the reason, deleting the first three characters in Excel can be a useful skill to have.

In this article, we'll explore three ways to delete the first three characters in Excel. We'll cover using formulas, the Flash Fill feature, and the Text to Columns feature. By the end of this article, you'll be equipped with the knowledge to quickly and easily remove the first three characters from your Excel data.

Method 1: Using Formulas

One of the most straightforward ways to delete the first three characters in Excel is by using a formula. You can use the MID function in combination with the LEN function to achieve this. Here's an example:

Suppose you have a string of text in cell A1 that you want to remove the first three characters from. You can use the following formula:

=MID(A1,4,LEN(A1))

This formula tells Excel to start from the 4th character of the string (since the first three characters are to be removed) and return the rest of the string.

How it works:

• The MID function extracts a specified number of characters from a string.
• The LEN function returns the length of the string.
• By combining these two functions, we can extract the desired portion of the string, starting from the 4th character.

You can apply this formula to an entire column of data by copying it down to the other cells.

Method 2: Using Flash Fill

Flash Fill is a feature in Excel that allows you to fill a range of cells with a pattern or a formula. You can use Flash Fill to delete the first three characters from a range of cells.

Here's how:

1. Select the range of cells that you want to apply the formula to.
2. Go to the "Data" tab in the ribbon.
3. Click on the "Flash Fill" button in the "Data Tools" group.
4. In the "Flash Fill" dialog box, select the option to "Fill formulas down".
5. Type the formula =MID(A1,4,LEN(A1)) in the top cell of the range.
6. Press "Enter" to apply the formula to the entire range.

How it works:

• Flash Fill automatically applies the formula to the entire range of cells.
• The formula =MID(A1,4,LEN(A1)) is applied to each cell in the range, deleting the first three characters.

Method 3: Using Text to Columns

Another way to delete the first three characters in Excel is by using the Text to Columns feature. This feature allows you to split a column of text into separate columns based on a delimiter.

Here's how:

1. Select the range of cells that you want to apply the formula to.
2. Go to the "Data" tab in the ribbon.
3. Click on the "Text to Columns" button in the "Data Tools" group.
4. In the "Text to Columns" dialog box, select the option to "Delimited".
5. Choose a delimiter that is not present in the text (e.g. a pipe "|" or a tilde "~").
6. Click "Next".
7. In the next step, select the option to "Skip" the first three characters.
8. Click "Finish".

How it works:

• The Text to Columns feature splits the text into separate columns based on the delimiter.
• By skipping the first three characters, the resulting text is effectively "deleted".

Conclusion

In this article, we've explored three ways to delete the first three characters in Excel. Whether you're using formulas, Flash Fill, or the Text to Columns feature, you now have the knowledge to quickly and easily remove unnecessary characters from your data.

Before we conclude, let's summarize the three methods:

• Using formulas: =MID(A1,4,LEN(A1))
• Using Flash Fill: Fill formulas down with the formula =MID(A1,4,LEN(A1))
• Using Text to Columns: Skip the first three characters using the Text to Columns feature

We hope this article has been helpful in your Excel journey. If you have any questions or need further clarification, please don't hesitate to ask.

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