How to Hide Part of Text in Excel Cells (2 Effective Methods)

When working with Excel, it might be needed sometimes to hide some part of a text. Now, if you are looking for ways to do so, you have landed in the perfect place. In this article, I will demonstrate to you 2 effective methods to hide part of a text in Excel cells.

How to Hide Part of Text in Excel Cells: 2 Effective Methods

Say, we have a dataset of 5 employees’ phone numbers. But, we don’t want to show it to everyone. So, we need to hide some part of the text of the phone number cells. You can accomplish this result using any of the following methods.

Here, we have used the Microsoft 365 version of Microsoft Excel. But, you can use all of these methods to any versions of Excel. If you face any problems to do so, please leave a comment below.

1. Use a Suitable Custom Format

You can easily hide a part of a text in an Excel cell using a custom format. Go through the steps below to do this.

📌 Steps:

• First and foremost, select the dataset (C5 to C9 cells here) where you want to hide parts of texts in same sequence.
• Following, right-click on your mouse upon the selection.

• Afterward, choose the Format Cells… option from the context menu.

• Consequently, the Format Cells window will appear.
• Select Custom from the Category pane and in the Type: text box, write the following format.

• Finally, click on the OK button.

As a result, you will see you have hidden the phone numbers of all your employees in a certain sequence.

2. Apply Excel Functions to Hide Specific Parts of Text

Besides, you can also apply different formulas to hide different parts of text in Excel cells.

2.1 Hide Right Part of Text Using LEFT Function

Using the LEFT function, you can hide parts of text from the starting of the text. Follow the steps below to perform this.

📌 Steps:

• At the very beginning, create a new column named Output to put the required formula and get the desired output.

• Afterward, click on the D5 cell and insert the following formula.

• Subsequently, hit the Enter button.
• As a result, you will get the phone number with the first 6 digits and the rest hidden as star (*) marks.

• Now, place your cursor in the bottom-right position of the D5 cell.
• When the Fill Handle appears, drag it below to copy the same formula for all the other cells below.

As a result, you will get all your employees’ phone numbers with some hidden parts. And, the output would look like this.

2.2 Hide Left Part of Text Using RIGHT Function

Now, say you want to show the last part of the phone number and hide the first part of the number. You can do this using the RIGHT function. Follow the steps below to do this.

📌 Steps:

• First and foremost, click on the D5 cell.
• Subsequently, write the following formula in the formula bar of the cell.

• Afterward, press the Enter button.

• At this time, place your cursor in the bottom right position of the D5 cell.
• Subsequently, a black Fill Handle will appear. Following, drag it down to copy the same formula for all the cells below.

Consequently, you will see that, you have hidden the first part of the phone number and kept only the last 3 digits visible for each employee’s phone number. For instance, the outcome should look like this.

2.3 Hide Left & Right Part of Text Using MID Function

Now, if you want to show parts from the middle of a text, you can use the MID function. Go through the steps below to achieve this.

📌 Steps:

• Initially, click on the D5 cell.
• Afterward, put the following formula in the formula bar.

• Subsequently, press the Enter button.

• As a result, you will successfully hide the first and last part of the cell value and show only 3 digits from the middle.
• Now, put your cursor in the bottom-right position of the cell and drag the Fill Handle downward upon its appearance.

Thus, you will successfully hide the first and last parts of all the phone numbers. And, the outcome would look like this.

Read More: How to Hide Confidential Data in Excel

How to Hide Full Text in Excel Cells

So far we have discussed how to hide text partially in Excel cells. Now, if you want to hide the full text in an Excel cell, follow the steps below.

📌 Steps:

• First, select the range that you want to hide (C5 to C9 cells here).
• Afterward, right-click on your mouse.

• Subsequently, choose the Format Cells… option from the context menu.

• As a result, the Format Cells dialogue box will appear.
• Choose the Custom option from the Category Pane.
• Afterward, at the Type: box, write three semicolons consecutively (;;;).
• Finally, click on the OK button.

Consequently, you can hide the full text of all these cells. Here, the values remain but are not shown in the cell. For example, the result would look like this.

Read More: Hide Data in Excel

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Conclusion

To sum up, in this article, I have shown you 2 effective methods to hide part of text in Excel cells. I would suggest you go through the full article carefully and practice each of the ways on your own. I hope you find this article helpful and informative. If you have any further queries or recommendations, please feel free to comment here.

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