How to reference certain number of characters from another cell?

[rayted]

Hi guys,

I`m looking to reference text from a cell on another tab in the same workbook. However, I want a certain number of characters.

I.e.

='Sheet2'!A2


Sheet2 A2 has: "Actions for next meeting on 01/12/17 (do not amend this column's data)"

I want to do a reference that pulls this: "Actions for next meeting on 01/12/17" not the (do not amend this column's data) text - can someone advise?

Thank you

[xlnitwit]

Hi,

How do you determine what to return? If it's everything before the brackets, you could use
=TRIM(LEFT('Sheet2'!A2,FIND("(",Sheet2!A2)-1))

[rayted]

I know I want the first portion of the text - i.e. the first 36 characters (with spaces) 31 without

The formula does not seem to be working (I think the issue is with -1 bit..)

[JohnTopley]

Formula given in #2 works for me based on sample in #1

[xlnitwit]

If you always want the first 36, you can simply use
=TRIM(LEFT('Sheet2'!A2,36))

[rayted]

Thank you this works!