How to Remove the First 3 Characters in Excel 2026

If you’ve ever had text in Excel where you needed to remove the first few characters—like cleaning up flight numbers or codes—this video will make it really simple. Hi, my name is Limon and in this video, I’ll show you two easy methods to remove the first 3 characters from a cell without any hassle. We’ll start with the RIGHT + LEN formula, which dynamically adjusts based on the length of your text, so it works even if your data isn’t all the same size. Then we’ll look at another method using the MID function, where you can skip the first few characters and pull the rest of the text cleanly. I’ll walk you through both step by step, and show you how to quickly apply the formula to the entire column using the fill handle. It’s a small Excel trick, but super useful when you’re cleaning or organizing data—and the best part is, you can easily adjust it to remove any number of characters you want.