Excel Column Converter
The Excel column converter translates spreadsheet column letters such as A, Z, AA or XFD into their numeric position and back again. It handles the full 1 to 16,384 range that modern spreadsheets support and converts whole lists in one pass.
Column letters or numbers
Result
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How to use the Excel Column Converter
- Paste column letters, column numbers, or a mix of both — one per line.
- Leave the direction on automatic and each line is converted to its counterpart.
- Copy the result.
Example
Input
A AA 28
Output
A = 1 AA = 27 28 = AB
Common use cases
- Translating a spreadsheet column reference into an index for a script or macro.
- Working out which letter corresponds to the 500th column of a wide export.
- Debugging an import that reports errors by column number.
Limitations and things to watch for
- Column numbering is one-based, matching spreadsheets: A is 1, not 0. Programming APIs that use zero-based indexes will be one lower.
- The valid range is 1 to 16,384 (A to XFD), which is the column limit in modern Excel and Google Sheets. Values outside that range are reported as an error.
- Only the column part is converted; a full cell reference such as B12 has its row ignored.
Frequently asked questions
Is column A number 0 or 1?
One. Spreadsheet columns are one-based, so A is 1, B is 2 and AA is 27. If you are feeding the number to a zero-based API, subtract one.
What is the highest column?
XFD, which is column 16,384 — the maximum in Excel 2007 and later and in Google Sheets.
Can I convert a list at once?
Yes. Paste one value per line and every line is converted independently, and the direction is detected per line.