On Apr 17, 2:25 pm, bluegrassstateworker <andy.crumbac...@gmail.com>
wrote:

I myself would just store the left(a1,4) in a separate column and use
that as my data validation...

You could use a combination of your data|validation and a worksheet event that
will truncate the chosen value.

If that's ok...

I used A1 as the cell that used data|validation.

Then rightclick on the worksheet tab that should have this behavior and select
view code.  Paste this into the code window:

Option Explicit
Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range)
   Dim myRng As Range
   Set myRng = Me.Range("a1")
   
   On Error GoTo ErrHandler:
   
   With Target
       If .Cells.Count > 1 Then
           Exit Sub
       End If
       
       If Intersect(.Cells, myRng) Is Nothing Then
           Exit Sub
       End If
       
       If Len(.Value) > 4 Then
           Application.EnableEvents = False
           .Value = Left(.Value, 4)
       End If
   End With
       
ErrHandler:
   Application.EnableEvents = True
End Sub

I can't get what your validation rule is from your
formula(=Left(range("xcodes"),4)).
I might be wrong but Is that the leftmost 4 characters of the text must be
unique your rule or else?

keiji