how to limit amount of numbers in cells in excel

I am trying to limit the amount of numbers that are in a cell. For example I
have a cell that has this sort of number 1220H123456, and I only want to have
the last six digits in that cell so I can sort in a numerical order. I have
been deleting the first 5 digits manually, but that takes way too much time
when the list has over 3000 rows. Any help would be wonderful!!!

Jeff

Use a "helper" column which contains a text formula to parse out the
beginning characters.
Then you can sort on that helper column.

Data in A1 to A3000.
Enter this in B1:

=RIGHT(A1,6)

Drag down to copy,
OR
*Double* click the fill handle on B1, to *automatically* copy the formula
down Column B, as far as there is data in Column A.
--
HTH,

RD

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"Jeff" <Jeff@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4676202F-770E-42C7-B089-863C22D4AFD0@microsoft.com...
> I am trying to limit the amount of numbers that are in a cell. For example
I
> have a cell that has this sort of number 1220H123456, and I only want to
have
> the last six digits in that cell so I can sort in a numerical order. I
have
> been deleting the first 5 digits manually, but that takes way too much
time
> when the list has over 3000 rows. Any help would be wonderful!!!
>
> Jeff

Select the entire column.

Go to Data|Text to Columns and select Fixed Width radio button.

Click Next and in the white area, click just before the 5th last digit in one of the numbers. You should see a vertical line separating the numbers. You can drag the line over if you missed the point of separation.

Click Finish. The numbers should be separated into 2 columns. Now you can delete or hide the unwanted column of numbers.