So, you have just gathered all your data, perhaps even spending hours entering it into your favorite spreadsheet software.  Now you want to upload it into a program so you can actually use the data, only to find out that you entered the first and last name into one column and the program requires a column for the first name and one for the last name.  Even worse, some names have surnames and middle names attached.  Quickly you start cursing and your head starts spinning thinking about the hundreds or thousands of lines that you need to update.  Don’t worry grasshopper, I will show you how to split these names in no time at all!

First, you need to be using Google Chrome and you’ll need a Google Drive account so you have access to Google Sheets (their version of Microsoft Excel).  Once you have access to those, simple go install the Split Names add-on by AbleBits.  Once you have installed the plugin simply paste the names column into Google Sheets, highlight the column, click on Add-ons, choose which columns you want split out (first, last, middle, surname) and click split.  It’s that easy!!

This is the free way to do it, but if you really want to do this in Excel, you can buy the software from AbleBits.com.  Leave a comment below to let me know if this helped you out.