Remove last N characters (from right) in Excel

Need to remove the last character or the last several characters from cells in Excel? This guide covers quick ways to do it using both formulas and the !SEMTools add-in.

Note: This article focuses on cases where the number of characters to remove is fixed (one, two, three, etc.). If you need to remove text up to a specific character, see this separate guide.

Formula to Remove Last N Characters

To create such a formula, you’ll need the LEFT and LEN functions. LEFT extracts the specified number of characters from the start of a text string, and LEN returns the total number of characters in the cell.

To remove the last N characters from a cell, take the first (Length – N) characters from the left:

=LEFT(A1;LEN(A1)-N)

Remove Last N Characters with !SEMTools

Formulas require a helper column. If you don’t need to keep the original data and want to save time, the !SEMTools add-in can remove characters directly in place.

Here’s how:

1. Select your range.
2. On the !SEMTools panel, go to Delete → Characters → Trim → From End of Cell.
3. In the dialog box, enter the number of characters to remove and click OK.

Related Operations

If you’re working on text cleanup, you might also be interested in:

• Get the first N characters of a cell
• Remove extra spaces in Excel
• Remove all characters except letters and numbers
• Using regular expressions in Excel