How can I extract name initials
Answers
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That's brilliant! Thank you! Is it still worth keeping the IFERROR in there?
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@DMaloney I didn't test it without. It shouldn't hurt to remove it, but it also doesn't hurt to leave it in either.
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Hi! @Paul Newcome This has really helped with a problem I was trying to solve, if I wanted to add a second middle initial how would I change the formula?
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Hi @Paul Newcome ,
Your formula works if the name is set as First Name, Last Name, but would you know how to get it if it's set as Last Name, First Name? Sometimes there will be a middle name or initial but that would always be at the end of the name. For example Doe, John or Doe, John A
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@Eva Exactly what kind of output are you looking for?
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@Paul Newcome Whether the name should be Doe, John or Doe, John A, I would want the initials to be JD. I found a work around with a helper column, but I would love to see I can do it without. Right now I have the following two formulas to pull this information:
=LEFT([Last Name, First Name]@row) + MID([Last Name, First Name]@row, FIND(" ", [Last Name, First Name]@row) + 1, 1)
=RIGHT([Initials Helper]@row) + MID([Initials Helper]@row, FIND(" ", [Initials Helper]@row) + 1, 1)
Thanks in advance!
Eva
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@Eva Try this:
=MID([Last Name, First Name]@row, FIND(" ", [Last Name, First Name]@row) + 1, 1) + LEFT([Last Name, First Name]@row)
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@Paul Newcome Works perfectly! Thank you so much!
Eva
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Hi! I have the same problem but i need the first initial and the last name. In the sample above, I need JDoe. How do I set the character count to choose the whole last name?
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@Ezra2023 You would use the MID portion to grab the first initial and then you would nest a FIND function in the second portion of the LEFT function to locate the comma and pull everything to the left of that.
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@Paul Newcome - thank you!!! That worked, i just used "20" to pull the rest of the characters. Is there a special character(eg *) to use to say the rest of the string?
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