Written and reviewed by FormulaCraft Team. Each formula on this page is run through our verification engine before publishing.
Last reviewed:
How to add a prefix to every cell in a column in Excel and Google Sheets
Topic:Text manipulationExcel & Google Sheets
="ID-"&A2✓
Verified example
Computed by a real spreadsheet engine on the sample data below.
| Code |
| 001 |
| 002 |
| 003 |
| 004 |
="ID-"&A2→ID-1
Try it with your data
Edit the grid or formula, then run it through a real spreadsheet engine — no signup.
Sample data — click any cell to edit
Runs server-side · free · no signup
Step by step
- 1In the output column, type the prefix in quotes followed by & and the cell reference: ="ID-"&A2.
- 2Press Enter, then copy the formula down the column to apply it to all rows.
- 3If the prefix is stored in a fixed cell (e.g., D1), use an absolute reference: =$D$1&A2.
- 4To overwrite the original column in place, paste the formula results as values: copy the output, then Paste Special > Values Only over the original column.
- 5You can also use CONCAT: =CONCAT("ID-",A2) — both approaches produce identical results.
Tips
- To add a prefix only to non-empty cells, wrap with IF: =IF(A2<>"","ID-"&A2,"").
Need it for your exact data?
Describe your columns in plain English and get the precise formula for your sheet, with the right Excel or Sheets syntax.
Frequently asked
Can I add a prefix to a number without converting it to text?
The result will always be text. If you need the column to remain numeric, reconsider — prefixed numbers like 'ID-123' are inherently text strings.
What if different rows need different prefixes?
Store the per-row prefix in a helper column and reference it: =B2&A2 where B2 contains the prefix for that row.
More on Text manipulation
See all →How-to
How to split text into columns
Split a full name or any delimited text into separate columns. Google Sheets uses SPLIT; Excel uses TEXTSPLIT — here is each.
How-toHow to remove extra spaces
Clean leading, trailing, and double spaces with TRIM — the usual fix for lookups that fail on values that look identical.
How-toHow to convert text to a number
Turn numbers stored as text into real numbers with VALUE or by multiplying by 1 — the fix for sums that ignore values.
How-toHow to extract the domain from an email address
Pull everything after the @ from an email using FIND and MID. Works the same in Excel and Google Sheets.
How-toHow to extract the first name from a full name
Get the first name from a full name with LEFT and FIND, splitting on the first space. Works in Excel and Google Sheets.
How-toHow to add leading zeros
Pad numbers to a fixed width with leading zeros using TEXT, or a custom number format. Works in Excel and Google Sheets.