reversing entry

[american]

Hello,

I am a teacher and many times I receive names of students in excel files for
example as John Doe. I would like to know if anyone knows of a way to convert
the name to Doe, John in an easy step so the name can be alphabetized.

If you know please let me know at american @ pressenter . com

Thanks

 

[JE McGimpsey]

One way (assuming only 2 names):

=MID(A1,FIND(" ",A1)+1,255) & ", " & LEFT(A1,FIND(" ",A1)-1)

 

[gls858]

Hello,

I am a teacher and many times I receive names of students in excel files for
example as John Doe. I would like to know if anyone knows of a way to convert
the name to Doe, John in an easy step so the name can be alphabetized.

If you know please let me know at american @ pressenter . com

Thanks

I would suggest using the text to column feature and separate the name into
two columns FirstName and LastName. This will allow you to sort by
either field.

Here's a link to a sample on the MS site.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011498511033.aspx



gls858

 

[David McRitchie]

Must get confusing with double first name like "Nancy Jo"
or compound last names like "van Buren"

First And Last Names
http://www.cpearson.com/excel/FirstLast.htm

Unless you are trying to save space it probably would be easier to
work with across applications if you used separate columns. The
main advantage to using a comma is the hope that someone doesn't
have both a very long last name *and* firstname.

 

[gls858]

Must get confusing with double first name like "Nancy Jo"
or compound last names like "van Buren"

First And Last Names
http://www.cpearson.com/excel/FirstLast.htm

Unless you are trying to save space it probably would be easier to
work with across applications if you used separate columns. The
main advantage to using a comma is the hope that someone doesn't
have both a very long last name *and* firstname.
---
HTH,
David McRitchie, Microsoft MVP - Excel [site changed Nov. 2001]
My Excel Pages: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/excel.htm
Search Page: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/search.htm

I would suggest using the text to column feature and separate the name into
two columns FirstName and LastName. This will allow you to sort by
either field.

Here's a link to a sample on the MS site.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011498511033.aspx



gls858

Yes, I can see where my suggestion wouldn't work in some cases. I hadn't
thought about the double names. Thanks for pointing that out.

gls858