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Excel Column Letter ⇄ Number Converter

Stop counting across the sheet. Type a column letter or number and get the other form instantly — with the COLUMN, ADDRESS and VBA equivalents you can paste into a real workbook.

Runs in your browserUpdated October 29, 2026A=1 to XFD=16384 · Both directions · Formula and VBA equivalents

The short answer

Excel numbers columns from A=1 to XFD=16384. To convert letters to a number, treat them as base-26 digits: AA = 1×26 + 1 = 27, and XFD = 24×26² + 6×26 + 4 = 16384. This converter works both ways and shows the equivalent COLUMN(), ADDRESS() and Cells() references.

Column letter, number, cell or range

Type in either direction — the conversion happens as you type. Capitals are optional.

Column letter

Column number

=COLUMN(AB1)

Returns 28 in any Excel version. Replace AB1 with a cell in the column you want to test.

=SUBSTITUTE(ADDRESS(1,28,4),"1","")

Returns “AB”. ADDRESS(1,28,4) produces the relative reference AB1, and SUBSTITUTE removes the row number.

VBA: letter → number

Range("AB1").Column  ' 28

VBA: number → letter

Split(Cells(1, 28).Address, "$")(1)  ' AB

Each VBA snippet shows its result in the comment. The $ in the address is what the split removes.

Common Excel column references

Click any row to load it. Excel 2007+ supports 16,384 columns; a legacy .xls file stops at IV (256).

Building a lookup? Column numbers shift when columns are inserted — prefer XLOOKUP or INDEX MATCH.

Generate a lookup

How to use it

1Type a column letter such as A, AA or XFD — capitals do not matter.
2Or type a number such as 1, 27 or 16384 to get the letter back.
3Check the formula and VBA equivalents shown under the result.
4Open the reference table for the columns that appear most often in models.

Questions about the column converter

How do I convert a column letter to a number in Excel?

Use =COLUMN(AA1), which returns 27. In VBA, Range("AA1").Column returns 27 as well. For a manual check, each letter is a base-26 digit: A=1 … Z=26, so AA = 1×26 + 1.

How do I convert a column number to a letter?

Use =SUBSTITUTE(ADDRESS(1,28,4),"1","") to get AB, or =LEFT(ADDRESS(1,28,4),LEN(ADDRESS(1,28,4))-1). In VBA, Split(Cells(1,28).Address,"$")(1) returns AB.

What is the last column in Excel?

XFD is column 16384, the last column in .xlsx files from Excel 2007 onwards. The last row is 1,048,576. Older .xls files stopped at column IV (256).

Does this work for column ranges like A:C?

Yes. Convert each endpoint separately: A is 1 and C is 3, so A:C covers columns 1–3. The same logic applies to a VBA range such as Columns(1).Resize(,3), which addresses A:C.

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