The official Microsoft Excel logo on a gray background

If yous start an Excel workbook by grouping data into the same cell and later decide to ungroup it, Excel has several like shooting fish in a barrel functions that tin can split i spreadsheet column into ii. Here's how to use both "Text to Columns" and "Flash Make full."

How to Utilize "Text to Columns" in Excel

Select the cells y'all desire to split past clicking the first cell and dragging down to the final prison cell in the cavalcade. In our case, we'll split the first and last names listed in cavalcade A into ii different columns, column B (last proper name) and column C (first name.)

select cells

Click the "Data" tab at the peak of the Excel Ribbon.

data tab

Click the "Text to Columns" button in the Data Tools section.

text to columns

In the Convert Text to Columns Wizard, select "Delimited" so click "Side by side." Delimited works great in our example, as the names are separated by commas. If the names were separated only past a space, you lot could select "Fixed width" instead.

delimited

Bank check both the "Comma" and "Space" delimiters and then the "Next" button. Delimiters are just how the data is separated. In this case, we're using comma and space because each cell in column A has a comma and a space separating the ii. You tin can utilise any delimiter that fits your information set.

comma and space

Next, we're going to click the cell where we want to starting time adding the data—in this case B2—and click "End." This volition add the first and last names to their respective columns.

We could practise this differently—for example, adding first names to column B and last names to column C. To exercise so, we'd highlight the first names in the sorcerer (notice the blackness highlight in the screenshot that signifies the agile column) and so click the appropriate cell.

click cell

Yous may notice a chinkle and so an inability to select the cell yous want to motility the data into. If this happens, just click inside the "Destination" area within the wizard or add the information manually into the Destination field.

destination box

How to Use "Wink Fill up" in Excel

If yous only have a few names, and you don't want to mess with the Text to Columns Sorcerer, you can use Flash Make full instead. This, in essence, is a smarter manner to copy and paste the data into new cells.

Click within the start prison cell of the appropriate cavalcade—the one named "Kickoff, in our case—and blazon in the first name of the kickoff person in your dataset.

add first name

Hit "Enter" on the keyboard to motion to the next cell down. From the "Dwelling" tab on the ribbon, click "Editing" so "Flash Fill."

Alternatively, you can printing Ctrl+E on your keyboard.

Wink Fill volition try to figure out what yous're trying to attain—adding only the commencement names in this example—and paste the results into the appropriate cells.

flash fill

Second, click within the first jail cell of the Final column and blazon in the last proper name of the appropriate person, and hit "Enter" on the keyboard.

From the "Home" tab, click "Editing" and then "Wink Fill." Or, use the Ctrl + Eastward keyboard shortcut.

Once again, Flash Fill volition attempt to figure out the data you want to fill up into the column.

flash fill

If Flash Fill doesn't work properly, there's always Undo (Ctrl+Z).