You could use a helper column and put a formula like:
=left(a1,3)

You could select that column and then do
Data|text to columns (xl2003 menus)
Specify fixed width
and draw a separator line before the 4th character.

Then tell excel to ignore the 2nd field.

I don't think you can go wrong by starting with John Walkenbach's books.

Debra Dalgleish has a list of books at her site:
http://www.contextures.com/xlbooks.html

See if you can find them in your local bookstore/internet site and you can
choose what one you like best.

cware wrote:

In my column of info I have ie....

abc
abc
abc01
trx
trx1
gaf
gaf2

What I need to do, is grab only the first three characters that are always
alpha, and remove all numbers.

Secondly, where do I go, to get real education on the formulas? I love
working with excel and my employer loves what I'm doing, but I need to go to
the next step.

Thanks!!

--

Dave Peterson