Changing cell contents

[Michael]

I have a column of names that has been created via the export
function of a third party program. After several phone calls and
almost 30 minutes on hold, I am told that there is no way to
change the way the names are exported, which is last name
comma first name. (JFTR, the NAME field is just one field -
there is not a LASTNAME or FIRSTNAME field.)

Anyway, I am rambling. Again, this text column of names
is all in the Smith, John format. What I would like is a way
to convert this column to either John Smith or two separate
columns, one containing the first name and the second column
containing the last name.

How convoluted is the procedure to accomplish this?

Thanks

Michael

 

[Guest]

Let's say your Smith, John is in A1. Select column A and pull-down:
Data > Text to Columns... and select the comma as the separator. Put the
result in cols B & C. Then in D1 put:

=TRIM(C1) & " " & B1
to see John Smith

 

[Michael]

Let's say your Smith, John is in A1. Select column A and pull-down:
Data > Text to Columns... and select the comma as the separator. Put the
result in cols B & C. Then in D1 put:

=TRIM(C1) & " " & B1
to see John Smith

Wow. Not that convoluted at all. Even I got this to work! Thanks.

Michael