Formula to return first names of a contact cell.

sierr146

Hello,

I have a contact list column that allows for multiple contacts, and I am trying to have another column give me only the first names in text. Is there a formula to help me do that? In a cell where I have 2 contacts, I have only been able to get it to give me 1 of the first names.

ChristianFinke

If you want to pull out first names from a multi-contact list, you can try using a formula with JOIN, LEFT, and FIND functions to get each first name into one cell. Here’s an example:

=JOIN(COLLECT(LEFT({Contact Column Name}, FIND(" ", {Contact Column Name}) - 1), {Contact Column Name}), ", ")

Let me know if you’d like more help!

sierr146

@ChristianFinke Thank you so much for taking the time to answer!

Unfortunately, that didn't work. The formula is correct but its returning nothing :(

Georgie

Hi @sierr146,

I tested this and found that simplifying the formula that Christian provided did the trick! Try:

• =LEFT(Name@row, FIND(" ", Name@row) - 1)

Does that work for you?

Georgie

sierr146

@Georgie Thanks for answering!! The formula works but only giving me 1 of the first names. I need it to give me both Miranda and Suzan :(

Georgie

Hi @sierr146,

Apologies for missing that! We don’t currently have a function/formula that will split out the multiple values from a multi-select column, so it won’t be possible to extract each first name from multiple contacts in a multi-select column. I found two similar product ideas below:

• Add function to retrieve values from cell for a multi-select column
• First Name, Last Name fields for Contacts

Please add your vote to these ideas if they match your request. You’ll then receive updates when the status of the idea changes! 

An alternative solution would be to have multiple single-select contact list columns, so that you list one contact in each column, and then use a similar formula to the one I provided before, but adding it again to look at your second column (and adding it again if you’ll have 3 contact columns, and so on), for example:

• =LEFT(Name@row, FIND(" ", Name@row)) + ", " + LEFT(Name2@row, FIND(" ", Name2@row))

Hope that helps!

Georgie

sierr146

@Georgie thanks for your help! :)