Excel For Mac Split Cells

Comfortable and satisfying as it is, working with Excel can sometimes be confusing. There sure have been times when you entered a lot of data in single cells under a column and decided later that all the information in those single cells better be divided into different cells under multiple columns. At times like this, you need to know how to split cells in Excel!

In this video we will learn how to Split cells in Excel and Separate Data from One Column to Multiple Columns in MS- Excel 2007,2010,2013,2016 & 2019.इस वीडि. One of the most common methods to split a cell in Excel is using the Text to Columns tool. This lets you split an entire column of cells using whatever rules you like. The feature also includes an easy-to-use wizard, which is why most people prefer using it. Select the cells you need to format as mac addresses. And then click Kutools Text Add Text. In the Add Text dialog box, please type a colon into the Text box, select the Specify option, and then enter the specified position numbers into the box. The steps to split a cell with Text to Columns are: Select the cells containing the text to be split. From the ribbon, click Data Text to Columns. The Convert Text to Columns Wizard dialog box will open. Select the Delimited option. This allows us to split the text at each occurrence of specific characters.

In this tutorial, we are going to explain three methods to split cells in Excel.

Splitting Cells Using Text to Column Feature

Suppose that you have a spreadsheet containing some information about a group of people, including first name, last name, and ID number and you want to put this information in separate cells.

You can split these data following these steps:

Select the cells you want to split the data.
Go to the Data tab and choose “Text to Column” from the Data Tools group.

3. The “Convert text to column wizard” window will open. This part includes three steps:

Step 1 of 3: At this step, you have 2 options: Delimited and Fixed Width. Choose the “Delimited” option, which is the character by which you specify to split cells and then click Next.

Step 2 of 3: Since our data are separated by space and comma, you must choose both as delimiters and then click Next. Also, you’d better check the “Treat consecutive delimiters as one” box. You can see the result in the Data preview section.

Step 3of 3: At this stage, you can specify the data format and the data destination. Leave the data format as General. Change the destination to $B$2 by typing it or clicking on the icon and selecting a range on the spreadsheet. Having set the information, click Finish.

And here’s the result.

Note: If you leave the destination as default, Excel will keep the first column where it is and move the rest to the next columns.

Splitting Cells Using the Flash Fill Feature

Another easy way to split cells in Excel is using the flash fill option. To split cells in the previous example, we just need to write the part of the text that we want splitted in the desired cell, then use the flash fill feature.

Suppose that you want to extract the first names, last names, and ID numbers from the first column and put them in the next columns. All you need to do is to follow these steps:

In Cell B2, type the corresponding first name (i.e., Matilda).
Press “Ctrl+E,” which is the shortcut for the flash fill option.
Do the same thing for the last names and ID numbers.

Note: If you don’t want to use shortcuts, you can go to the Data tab and click on Flash Fill from the Data Tools group.

Splitting Cells Using Text Functions

The last method to split cells is using Excel text functions. Excel text functions work great when you want to split cells. You must know how to use these functions and how to combine them.

Here are the text functions that we can use to split cells in Excel:

LEFT: It extracts a specific number of characters from the left side of a string
FIND: We use it to find a string inside another one. It returns the starting position of the sub-string as a number.
RIGHT: It extracts a specific number of characters from the right side of a string.
LEN: It returns the total number of characters in a text string.
MID: It extracts a substring from a text string. It returns the number of characters starting from the position you specify.
SUBSTITUTE: It replaces one or more text strings with another one.

Note: Excel SEARCH function does the same thing as the FIND function. The only difference is that the FIND function is case-sensitive, but the SEARCH function is not.

Now that we know the text functions we need, we can directly go to the examples.

Extracting the First Name

This example shows how to extract the first names from a list containing first names and last names.

To extract the first names, we can use the combination of the LEFT function and the FIND function. To do so, we use the following formula:

=LEFT(A2,FIND(' ',A2))

In this formula, the FIND function finds the space character’s location as a number and gives it to the LEFT function to split the first name from cell A2.

Note: This formula works for the previous example too.

Extracting the Last Name

To extract the last names, we use a combination of the RIGHT, FIND, and LEN functions. To do so, we use the formula below:

=RIGHT(A2,LEN(A2)-FIND(' ',A2))

This formula locates the space character and splits the characters after it.

If our list includes middle names, we have to combine the above functions with IF and SUBSTITUTE functions. Look at the formula below:

=IF(LEN(A2)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A2,' ','))=1,RIGHT(A2,LEN(A2)-FIND(' ',A2)),RIGHT(A2,LEN(A2)-FIND(' ',A2,FIND(' ',A2)+1)))

In this formula, the IF function checks the existence of a middle name. The formula counts the number of the space characters; if there is only one, it uses the exact formula we introduced for extracting the last name before; if there are two spaces, it locates the second one and splits the next characters.

Now, what if we had the first example’s data and wanted to extract the last names? The answer is the combination of the MID and FIND functions as below:

=MID(A2,FIND(' ',A2)+1,FIND(',',A2)-FIND(' ',A2)-1)

Extracting the Middle Name

Sometimes, you have a list of names that include middle names, like the second example about the last names. To extract the middle name from a text, we combine the MID and SEARCH functions. Look at the following formula:

=MID(A2,SEARCH(' ',A2)+1,SEARCH(' ',A2,SEARCH(' ',A2)+1)-SEARCH(' ',A2))

In this formula, the MID function extracts the characters between the two spaces.

Note: If you enter the above formula for a text without a middle name, it returns the #VALUE error. To avoid this, you can use the IFERROR function. Look at the formula below:

=IFERROR(MID(A5,FIND(' ',A5)+1,FIND(' ',A5,FIND(' ',A5)+1)-FIND(' ',A5)),'-')

Here, the text in cell A5 does not have a middle name, so the formula returns the “-” character. It’s obvious that if we use it for cell A2, it will give the middle name.

We have covered three simple methods to split cells in Excel. Now, you have a choice, so see which one you are more comfortable with and try that one out.

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How to format mac addresses in cells by adding colon symbol in Excel?

Supposing you received a worksheet contains a list of numbers, and now you need to format all these numbers as mac addresses by adding colon symbol as below screenshot shown. What can you do to achieve it? You can try the method in this tutorial to solve the problem.

Format mac addresses in cells by adding colon with formula
Format mac addresses in cells by adding colon with VBA
Easily format mac addresses in cells by adding colon with Kutools for Excel

Format mac addresses in cells by adding colon with formula

The below formula can help you format number as mac address by adding a colon. Please do as follows.

1. Select a blank cell, enter formula into the Formula Bar, and then press the Enter key. See screenshot:

=LEFT(A2,2)&':'&MID(A2,3,2)&':'&MID(A2,5,2)&':'&MID(A2,7,2)&':'&MID(A2,9,2)&':'&RIGHT(A2,2)

Note: In the formula, A2 is the cell contains the number you will format as mac format.

2. Select the first result cell, drag the Fill Handle down to get all mac format numbers. See screenshot:

Format mac addresses in cells by adding colon with VBA

With below VBA code, you can format a range of numbers as mac addresses at once in Excel. Please do as follows.

1. Press the Alt + F11 keys simultaneously to open the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window.

2. In the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window, click Insert > Module. Then copy below VBA code into the code window.

VBA code: Format numbers as mac addresses in cells

3. In the opening Kutools for Excel dialog box, please select the cells with numbers you will format as mac addresses, and then click the OK button.

Then you can see all selected numbers are formatted as mac addresses as below screenshot shown.

Easily format mac addresses in cells by adding colon with Kutools for Excel

This section will introduce the Add Text utility of Kutoos for Excel. With this utility, you can quickly add colons to cells at specified positions. Please do as follows.

Before applying Kutools for Excel, please download and install it firstly.

1. Select the cells you need to format as mac addresses. And then click Kutools > Text > Add Text.

2. In the Add Text dialog box, please type a colon into the Text box, select the Specify option, and then enter the specified position numbers into the box. And finally click the OK button.

Note: In this case, I need to add colons after every two numbers in cells, so I enter 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 and separate them by commas. See screenshot:

If you want to have a free trial ( 30-day) of this utility, please click to download it, and then go to apply the operation according above steps.

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