Recently, a friend asked about fixing an Excel spreadsheet where the subscriber name was in 1 column. He wanted the name separated so he could send a personalized mailing. (Includes Flash demo)

This is not the first time this question has arisen. Although the case is usually about a name and address fields, it happens elsewhere. Its easy to create spreadsheets without thinking how the data will be used. Ive been guilty of this myself.

The key to solving this problem is to parse the data. If you go to the Data menu, you'll see a Text to Columns item. It seems people dismiss this choice because their data is already in columns. Others have tried unsuccessfully using the Split item on the Windows menu.

To split cell contents into several parts,

1. Click the column header to the right of the column you wish to parse.

2. From the Insert menu, select Columns.

3. Click the column header of the row you wish to separate.

4. From the Data menu, select Text to Columns A data wizard appears

5. Choose the Delimited radio button in the Original data type section.

6. Click Next.

7. In the delimiters section, select the item that separates your data. In our example, a space separates our first and last names.

8. Look at the Data preview section. If the data looks correct, click Next.

9. Click each column in the Data preview section and select the Data format type.

10. Click Finish.

11. Label your new column

• 4 Minute Flash tutorial
• Practice Excel file from demo