How to Add Country or Area Code to Phone Numbers in Excel

Jun 29, 2025

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📞 How to Add Country/Area Code to a Phone Number List in Excel – With Example

Adding a country code or area code to phone numbers in Excel is a common task in data cleaning and formatting. It’s especially useful when preparing lists for international communication, WhatsApp campaigns, or CRM uploads.

✅ Example Scenario: Add +91 Country Code to Indian Mobile Numbers

Let’s say you have a list of mobile numbers in Column A (without country code):

A (Mobile No.)
9876543210
9123456789
9988776655

Your goal is to add +91 before each number.

🔹 Method 1: Using Formula

Use the CONCATENATE or & operator:

="+91" & A2

Or:

=CONCAT("+91", A2)

Result:

B (With +91)
+919876543210
+919123456789
+919988776655

➡️ Drag the formula down to apply it to all rows.

🔹 Method 2: For Area Codes (e.g., Delhi’s Landline ‘011’)

If you have landline numbers and want to prefix them with area code:

A (Landline)
23456789
87654321

Formula:

="011" & A2

Result:

B (With Area Code)
01123456789
01187654321

🔹 Method 3: Add Country Code Only If Missing (Advanced)

Use IF to avoid adding code to already-formatted numbers:

=IF(LEFT(A2, 3)="+91", A2, "+91" & A2)

This checks if +91 already exists and avoids duplication.

🔒 Important Notes:

Excel treats numbers starting with + as text. No need to format them as numbers.
Format the column as Text before pasting or using the formula to prevent Excel from removing leading zeroes or the +.