Excel column letter to numbers

Convert numbers stored as text to numbers

Numbers that are stored as text can cause unexpected results, like an uncalculated formula showing instead of a result. Most of the time, Excel will recognize this and you’ll see an alert next to the cell where numbers are being stored as text. If you see the alert, select the cells, and then click to choose a convert option.

Check out Format numbers to learn more about formatting numbers and text in Excel.

If the alert button is not available, do the following:

1. Select a column

Select a column with this problem. If you don’t want to convert the whole column, you can select one or more cells instead. Just be sure the cells you select are in the same column, otherwise this process won’t work. (See «Other ways to convert» below if you have this problem in more than one column.)

2. Click this button

The Text to Columns button is typically used for splitting a column, but it can also be used to convert a single column of text to numbers. On the Data tab, click Text to Columns.

3. Click Apply

The rest of the Text to Columns wizard steps are best for splitting a column. Since you’re just converting text in a column, you can click Finish right away, and Excel will convert the cells.

4. Set the format

Press CTRL + 1 (or + 1 on the Mac). Then select any format.

Note: If you still see formulas that are not showing as numeric results, then you may have Show Formulas turned on. Go to the Formulas tab and make sure Show Formulas is turned off.

Other ways to convert:

You can use the VALUE function to return just the numeric value of the text.

1. Insert a new column

Insert a new column next to the cells with text. In this example, column E contains the text stored as numbers. Column F is the new column.

2. Use the VALUE function

In one of the cells of the new column, type =VALUE() and inside the parentheses, type a cell reference that contains text stored as numbers. In this example it’s cell E23.

3. Rest your cursor here

Now you’ll fill the cell’s formula down, into the other cells. If you’ve never done this before, here’s how to do it: Rest your cursor on the lower-right corner of the cell until it changes to a plus sign.

4. Click and drag down

Click and drag down to fill the formula to the other cells. After that’s done, you can use this new column, or you can copy and paste these new values to the original column. Here’s how to do that: Select the cells with the new formula. Press CTRL + C. Click the first cell of the original column. Then on the Home tab, click the arrow below Paste, and then click Paste Special > Values.

If the steps above didn’t work, you can use this method, which can be used if you’re trying to convert more than one column of text.

Select a blank cell that doesn’t have this problem, type the number 1 into it, and then press Enter.

Press CTRL + C to copy the cell.

Select the cells that have numbers stored as text.

On the Home tab, click Paste > Paste Special.

Click Multiply, and then click OK. Excel multiplies each cell by 1, and in doing so, converts the text to numbers.

Press CTRL + 1 (or + 1 on the Mac). Then select any format.

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Convert Column Letter to Number – Excel & Google Sheets

Download the example workbook

This tutorial demonstrates how to convert a column letter to number in Excel.

Converting Column Letter to Number

To get the number of a column letter in Excel, we will use the COLUMN and INDIRECT Functions.

INDIRECT Function

The INDIRECT Function converts a string of text corresponding to a cell reference, into the actual cell reference.

COLUMN Function

The cell reference is then passed to the COLUMN Function, which returns the number of the column.

To illustrate, let’s see some examples below.

=COLUMN(A1) has a result of 1. This is because the cell reference “A1” is in column number 1.

=COLUMN(B1) has a result of 2. This is because the cell reference “B1” is in column number 2.

=COLUMN(H1) has a result of 8. This is because the cell reference “H1” is in column number 8.

Convert Column Letter to Number in Google Sheets

The combination of COLUMN and INDIRECT Functions works exactly the same in Google Sheets as in Excel:

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How to number columns in Excel and convert column letter to number

by Svetlana Cheusheva, updated on March 9, 2023

The tutorial talks about how to return a column number in Excel using formulas and how to number columns automatically.

Last week, we discussed the most effective formulas to change column number to alphabet. If you have an opposite task to perform, below are the best techniques to convert a column name to number.

How to return column number in Excel

To convert a column letter to column number in Excel, you can use this generic formula:

For example, to get the number of column F, the formula is:

And here’s how you can identify column numbers by letters input in predefined cells (A2 through A7 in our case):

Enter the above formula in B2, drag it down to the other cells in the column, and you will get this result:

How this formula works:

First, you construct a text string representing a cell reference. For this, you concatenate a letter and number 1. Then, you hand off the string to the INDIRECT function to convert it into an actual Excel reference. Finally, you pass the reference to the COLUMN function to get the column number.

How to convert column letter to number (non-volatile formula)

Being a volatile function, INDIRECT can significantly slow down your Excel if used broadly in a workbook. To avoid this, you can identify the column number using a slightly more complex non-volatile alternative:

This works perfectly in dynamic array Excel (365 and 2021). In older version, you need to enter it as an array formula (Ctrl + Shift + Enter) to get it to work.

=MATCH(A2&»1″, ADDRESS(1, COLUMN($1:$1), 4), 0)

Or you can use this non-array formula in all Excel versions:

=MATCH(A2&»1″, INDEX(ADDRESS(1, INDEX(COLUMN($1:$1), ), 4), ), 0)

How this formula works:

First off, you concatenate the letter in A2 and the row number «1» to construct a standard «A1» style reference. In this example, we have letter «A» in A2, so the resulting string is «A1».

Next, you get an array of strings representing all cell addresses in the first row, from «A1» to «XFD1». For this, you use the COLUMN($1:$1) function, which generates a sequence of column numbers, and pass that array to the column_num argument of the ADDRESS function:

Given that row_num (1st argument) is set to 1 and abs_num (3rd argument) is set to 4 (meaning you want a relative reference), the ADDRESS function delivers this array:

Finally, you build a MATCH formula that searches for the concatenated string in the above array and returns the position of the found value, which corresponds to the column number you are looking for:

Change column letter to number using a custom function

«Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication,» stated the great artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci. To get a column number from a letter in an easy way, you can create your own custom function.

Fully in line with the above principle, the function’s code is as simple as it can possibly be:

Insert the code in your VBA editor as explained here, and your new function named ColumnNumber is ready for use.

The function requires just one argument, col_letter, which is the column letter to be converted into a number:

Your real formula can be as follows:

If you compare the results returned by our custom function and Excel’s native ones, you will make sure they are exactly the same:

Return column number of a specific cell

To get a column number of a particular cell, simply use the COLUMN function:

For instance, to identify the column number of cell B3, the formula is:

Obviously, the result is 2.

Get column letter of the current cell

To find out a column number of the current cell, use the COLUMN() function with an empty argument, so it refers to the cell where the formula is:

=COLUMN()

How to show column numbers in Excel

By default, Excel uses the A1 reference style and labels column headings with letters and rows with numbers. To get columns labeled with numbers, change the default reference style from A1 to R1C1. Here’s how:

1. In your Excel, click File >Options.
2. In the Excel Options dialog box, select Formulas in the left pane.
3. Under Working with formulas, check the R1C1 reference style box, and click OK.
   

The column labels will immediately change from letters to numbers:

Please note that selecting this option will not only change column labels — cell addresses will also change from A1 to R1C1 references, where R means «row» and C means «column». For example, R1C1 refers to the cell in row 1 column 1, which corresponds to the A1 reference. R2C3 refers to the cell in row 2 column 3, which corresponds to the C2 reference.

In existing formulas, cell references will update automatically, while in new formulas you will have to use the R1C1 reference style.

Tip. To revert back to A1 style, uncheck the R1C1 reference style check box in Excel Options.

How to number columns in Excel

If you are not used to the R1C1 reference style and want to keep A1 references in your formulas, then you can insert numbers in the first row of our worksheet, so you have both — column letters and numbers. This can be easily done with the help of the Auto Fill feature.

Here are the detailed steps:

1. In A1, type number 1.
2. In B1, type number 2.
3. Select cells A1 and B1.
4. Hover the cursor over a small square in the lower right corner of cell B1, which is called the Fill handle. As you do this, the cursor will change to a thick black cross.
5. Drag the fill handle to the right up to the column you need.

As a result, you will retain the column labels as letters, and underneath the letters you will have the column numbers.

Tip. To keep the columns numbers in view while scrolling to the below areas of the worksheet, you can freeze top row.

That’s how to return column numbers in Excel. I thank you for reading and look forward to seeing you on our blog next week!

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Converting column letter to number [duplicate]

I found code to convert number to column letter.

How can I convert from column letter to number?

5 Answers 5

You can reference columns by their letter like this:

So to get the column number, just modify the above code like this:

The above line returns an integer (1 in this case).

So if you were using the variable mycolumn to store and reference column numbers, you could set the value this way:

And then you could reference your variable this way:

or to reference a cell ( A1 ):

or to reference a range of cells ( A1:A10 )you could use:

The answer given may be simple but it is massively sub-optimal, because it requires getting a Range and querying a property. An optimal solution would be as follows:

To see the numerical equivalent of a letter-designated column:

My Comments

ARich gives a good solution and shows the method I used for a while but Sancarn is right, its not optimal. It’s a little slower, will cause errors if the wrong input is given, and is not very robust. Sancarn is on the right track, but lacks a little error checking: for example, getColIndex(«_») and getColIndex(«AE»), will both return 31. Other non-letter characters (ex: «*») sometimes return various negative values.

Working Function

Here is a function I wrote that will convert a column letter into a number. If the input is not a column on the worksheet, it will return -1 (unless AllowOverflow is set to TRUE).

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