Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Converting Codes to Characters.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 20, 2026)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Excel in Microsoft 365
Computers store information internally using numeric values. The information we see on our screens, as characters, is nothing but a conversion of those numbers into the characters associated with those numbers. Excel includes a built-in worksheet function that allows you to convert numeric values into their associated characters, as follows:
=CHAR(A3)
This formula converts the numeric value in cell A3 into the character represented by that value. In Windows versions of Excel, CHAR uses the ANSI character set used by your system and works with values from 1 to 255. For example, if A3 contains the value 65, the formula returns the capital letter A.
For characters beyond the standard CHAR range, Excel also provides the UNICHAR function, which supports Unicode character values. The UNICHAR function was introduced in Excel 2013.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (10425) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Converting Codes to Characters.
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here:
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