How to sort by last name?

[Guest]

Sorry but we don't have a seperated columns for the first and last name, but
is there away to sort by last name. such as:

D. Jurgens
R. Moreno
F. Coley
D. Baird

???? Thanks

 

[Peo Sjoblom]

Use a help column, then a formula like

=TRIM(MID(A2,FIND(".",A2)+1,255))

assuming there is always an initial and a period

then select both columns and sort by the help column, then remove the help
column. If you don't always have an initial and a period but always a space
before the last name you can use

=MID(A2,FIND(" ",A2)+1,255)


and finally if there are multiple spaces but the last name is always last
and have a preceding space

=MID(A2,FIND("^^",SUBSTITUTE(A2," ","^^",LEN(A2)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A2,"
",""))))+1,255)

 

[Guest]

Hi Kenny,
You need to separate out the last name.
Highlight the column with the names.
Go to Data > Text to Columns...
The Delimited file type should be selected.
Click Next. Choose Space as the Delimiter and then click Next.
Click Finish and then click OK to replace contents of destination cells.
This will work as long as all name entries have a space bewteen the first
initial and the last name.

Cheers.