How to Remove Specific Text from Cell in Excel (Easiest 11 Ways) (2023)

If you are looking for some of the easiest ways to remove specific text from a cell in Excel, then you will find this article worth it. While working with Excel and dealing with large datasets, sometimes it becomes necessary to delete some text from a cell.
You can do this manually, but it will waste your valuable time. Let’s dive into the article and get some of the easiest ways to remove specific text from cells in Excel.

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11 Ways to Remove Specific Text from Cell in Excel

I have a dataset where I have 3 columns. I will use different cells to remove some specific texts and extract some important data using the methods described below.

Here, I have used Microsoft Excel 365 Version. You may use any other version at your convenience.

Method-1: Using Find & Replace Option to Remove Specific Text

For this method, I will use the first column; Product Code where with different items the company name has been included with a character “-”. So, I will extract the product name and delete the company name including this character. You can use the option to perform this task.

Step-01:
➤ Select the data table
➤ Go to Home Tab>>Editing Dropdown>>Find & Select Dropdown>>Find Option

Then Find and Replace Dialog Box will appear
➤ Write -XYZ in the Find What Option
➤ Select Replace All Option

Now another Wizard will pop up
➤ Press OK

Result:
After that, you will get the Items name as a result.

Here, I’ve changed the Product Code column to Items.

Read More: How to Remove Text From Excel Cell (9 Easy Ways)

Method-2: Using Flash Fill Feature to Remove Text from Cell

Here, I will use the first column; Product Code where with different items the company name has been included with a character “-”. So, I will extract the product name and delete the company name including this character. For showing this result I have added an Items column. You can use the Flash Fill feature to perform this task.

Step-01:
➤ Write down the part of the text you want to keep in Cell E5

➤ Press ENTER

Step-02:
➤ Follow Home Tab>>Editing Dropdown>>Fill Dropdown>>Flash Fill Option

Result:
Now you will get your desired output in the Items column

Read More: How to Remove Text from an Excel Cell but Leave Numbers (8 Ways)

Method-3: Using SUBSTITUTE function to Remove Specific Text From Cell in Excel

Like previous methods, I will use the first column; Product Code where with different items the company name has been included with a character “-”. Unlike the previous one in this section, I’ll use the SUBSTITUTE function for this purpose.

Step-01:
➤ Select Cell E5
➤ Type the following formula

B5 is the text, -XYZ is the old text you want to replace and it will be replaced by Blank.

Step-02:
➤ Press ENTER
➤ Drag down the Fill Handle tool.

Result:
Then you will get the texts with removing the unwanted part in the Items column

Read More: How to Remove Letters from Cell in Excel (10 Methods)

Method-4: Using MID function

Similar to the previous one I will use the first column; Product Code where with different items the company name has been included with a character “-”. For showing this result I have added an Items column. You can use the MID function and the Find function for this case.

Step-01:
➤ Select Cell E5
➤ Type the following formula

B5 is the text, 1 is the start number,
FIND("-", B5, 1)-1 here, FIND will give the position of character “-” and then the value will be deducted from 1. It will be the number of characters in the MID function.

Step-02:
➤ Press ENTER
➤ Drag down the Fill Handle tool.

Result:
Now you will get your desired texts in the Items column

Method-5: Using RIGHT function

In the Color with Code column, I have some colors combined with their code no. For removing the code no you can use the RIGHT function.

Step-01:
➤ Select Cell E5
➤ Type the following formula

D5 is the text,
LEN(D5) is the total length of the string
FIND("-", D5,1) will give the position of character “-” and then the value will be deducted from the total length of the string and it will be the number of characters for the RIGHT function.

Step-02:
➤ Press ENTER
➤ Drag down the Fill Handle tool.

Result:
Now you will get only the name of the colors as below.

Read More: How to Remove Text before a Space with Excel Formula (5 Methods)

Method-6: Using LEFT function to Remove Text from Cell

If you want to extract the color code and remove the color name from the column Color with Code then you can use the LEFT function. I have added a Color Code column for this reason.

Step-01:
➤ Select Cell E5
➤ Type the following formula

D5 is the text,
3 is the number of characters you want to extract.

Step-02:
➤ Press ENTER
➤ Drag down the Fill Handle tool.

Result:
Afterward, you will get the code of colors in the Color Code column.

Method-7: Using REPLACE function to Remove Text from Cell in Excel

For removing the color codes in the Color with Code column you can use the REPLACE function. For having the outputs I have added the Color column.

Step-01:
➤ Select Cell E5
➤ Type the following formula

D5 is the text,
1 is the start number, 4 is the number of characters you want to replace with blank.

Step-02:
➤ Press ENTER
➤ Drag down the Fill Handle tool.

Result:
Afterward, you will get the name of colors in the Color column.

Read More: How to Remove Specific Text from a Column in Excel (8 Ways)

Method-8: Removing Text After Specific Character from Cell in Excel

Suppose, you want to remove the last three sizes in the Size column. So, you can use the Find & Replace option here.

Step-01:
➤ Select the datatable
➤ Go to Home Tab>>Editing Dropdown>>Find & Select Dropdown>>Find Option

Then Find and Replace Dialog Box will appear
➤ Write “,*” in the Find What Option
➤ Select Replace All Option
,* will help to find all of the texts after the comma.

Now another Wizard will pop up
➤ Press OK

Result:
Then you will get the first sizes in the Size column.

Read More: How to Remove Text After Character in Excel (3 Ways)

Method-9: Removing Multiple Characters Simultaneously

Suppose, you want to remove all of the brackets separating colors in the Color with Code column and use “-” as a separator. So, you can use the SUBSTITUTE function here.

Step-01:
➤ Select Cell E5
➤ Type the following formula

D5 is the text,
SUBSTITUTE(D5,"(","-") here,“(” is the old text you want to replace with “-“.
Then this output will be used by another SUBSTITUTE function.

Step-02:
➤ Press ENTER
➤ Drag down the Fill Handle tool.

Result:
Now you will get your desired format in the output column as below.

Method-10: Deleting Texts before the nth occurrence of a Specific Character

Suppose, you want to get only the last size instead of the 4 sizes in the Size column. To do this you can use the RIGHT function and the SUBSTITUTE function.

Step-01:
➤ Select Cell E5
➤ Type the following formula

C5 is the text,
SUBSTITUTE(C5,",", CHAR(9),3) here comma will be replaced by CHAR(9)(blank) and 3 is used to define the position of a comma before which I want to remove texts
Then the RIGHT function will give the output as the last size number from the right side.

Step-02:
➤ Press ENTER
➤ Drag down the Fill Handle tool.

Result:
Now you will get your desired sizes in the Size column

Method-11: Deleting Texts after the nth occurrence of a Specific Character

For getting only the first size instead of 4 sizes in the Size column, you can use the LEFT function and the SUBSTITUTE function.

Step-01:
➤ Select Cell E5
➤ Type the following formula

C5 is the text,
SUBSTITUTE(C5,",", CHAR(9),3) here comma will be replaced by CHAR(9)(blank) and 1 is used to define the position of a comma after which I want to remove texts
Then the LEFT function will give the output as the last size number from the left side.

Step-02:
➤ Press ENTER
➤ Drag down the Fill Handle tool.

Result:
Then you will get the first sizes in the Size column.

Read More: How to Remove Text between Two Characters in Excel (3 Easy Ways)

Practice Section

For doing practice on your own we have provided a section for this purpose in a sheet named Practice. Please do it by yourself.

Conclusion

In this article, I have tried to explain the easiest methods to remove specific text from cells in Excel. Hope you will find it helpful. Please provide any further suggestions if you have any. Thank you.

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