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TEXTAFTER

Text & cleanup

Grab everything after a delimiter — last names, email domains, the tail of a code.

Difficulty

Amateur
Excel file

1What is it?

TEXTAFTER returns the piece of a text string that comes after a delimiter you name. It's the companion to TEXTBEFORE and the clean replacement for MID/RIGHT with a nested FIND: name the marker, and it hands back everything past it. Point it at the first delimiter, the last, or the nth, and give it a fallback for when the marker isn't found. Microsoft 365 / Excel 2021+.

2What it looks like

TEXTAFTER(text, delimiter, [instance_num], [match_mode], [match_end], [if_not_found])
text
The string to pull from.
delimiter
The marker to start after — " ", ", ", or "@".
[instance_num]
Which occurrence to start after — 1 = the first (default); -1 = the last, handy for last names with middle names.
[if_not_found]
What to return when the delimiter isn't present. It's the last argument.

3When you use it

  • Split a last name off a "First Last" column — use -1 to survive middle names.
  • Take the domain of an email — everything after the @.
  • Pull the part after a dash in a SKU or account code.

4See it in action

Change the inputs — the formula and result update live. Prefer the real thing? Download the Excel file and open it in Excel.

Start simple: last name · 1 of 2

Pull everything after the first space. Try a name with a middle name to see the catch.

C2
fx
=TEXTAFTER(B2, " ")Doe
ABC
1FieldValueResult
2Full nameJane DoeDoe

The lime cell holds the formula — click it (or any cell) to see its contents in the bar above, just like Excel. Edit the blue cells to watch it recompute.

5Common errors

#N/AThe delimiter isn't in the text and no fallback was given.

Fix: Add the if_not_found argument as the last one.

Wrong pieceA name has a middle name, so " " matches twice.

Fix: Use instance_num -1 to start after the LAST space instead of the first.

#NAME?You're on a version without TEXTAFTER.

Fix: Needs Microsoft 365 or Excel 2021+. Otherwise use RIGHT/MID with FIND.

6Better functions & alternatives

  • TEXTBEFORE — The mirror image — everything before the delimiter.
  • TEXTSPLIT — Break the whole string into pieces in one go.
  • RIGHT + FIND — The pre-365 pattern for the last piece, though it gets fiddly with repeats.

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