Truncating Text Data within Cells

I have a column of 4000 cells with text data of varying size in each cell. I only need the first 8 characters in each cell and I want to truncate (trash) the rest of the data. Any ideas. I tried to set up a validation in a new column, but this did not work. Thanks in advance.

[Juan Pablo González]

Select the 4000 cells, go to Data, Text to Columns, select "Fixed With", and drag a line that divides the first 8 characters from the rest. Click Finish.

Thanks Juan, This moves the remaining charaters into the adjacent column, is there any way to have it just delete the left over characters?

[Juan Pablo González]

Sure. Instead of clicking "Finish", click "Next", then, you have the option to "Format" each column. In there, select the second column, and choose "Skip this column". Then you can click Finish.

OK, maybe I'm just stupid (as you nod your head), but does this have anything to do with the destination field? When I hit skip, it simply deletes the characters that I need and not the ones that I don't. In this final step the next button is grayed out. urrrrgh.

[Juan Pablo González]

You're selecting the first column, try selecting the second one, and click "Skip".

[sagearbor]

You could cleanly have this in a bordering column by entering below equation. I will assume you want to truncate text in A1:

=left(a1,8)