Add text by position in a spreadsheet

The Add tool from Power Tools lets you add the desired characters to any position in the selected cells with text. Extend the street name, add an area code or an extension to the telephone numbers — you name it.

Video: How to insert the same text to multiple Google Sheets cells

Before you start

If you add characters to cells formatted as dates, time, currencies, etc., Google Sheets may change the format of the resulting cells according to their new contents.

How to use the Add tool

Run the utility

  1. Open your Power Tools from the Google Sheets menu: Extensions > Power Tools > Start:
    Run Power Tools.
  2. Access the Text group:
    Click the Text group icon.
  3. Run the Add tool by clicking on its icon:
    Add Text in Power Tools.

How to add text by position in Google Sheets

Select the range with your text and decide what to do with it:
Add text by position in Google Sheets.

  1. Enter the substring you would like to add in the first field.
  2. Select the position for the new text in the selected cells:
    • Pick At the beginning to begin each cell with the entered text.
    • Select At the end to append the necessary text to each cell.
    • Choose After character number and specify the exact position for your text in the selected cell. You can either enter or pick the character number using the up and down arrows.
    • If the position varies from cell to cell, and it depends on certain values, use the Before text option and enter the value that has to follow your new text.
      Tip. To add text before the string of a certain text case only, tick off the Match case checkbox at the bottom.
    • Use the After text option to insert new text after the entered value. Type the entry to search for in the range into the text field.
      Tip. To add text only after the string of a certain text case, tick off the Match case checkbox right below.
    • If there are blank cells in your data and you don't need to fill them with the new text, select the option Skip empty cells before adding your text. This way, the tool will process non-blank cells only.

Press Run and see the necessary text added to the specified position.

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