Is there anyone on the list who has experience with combining two columns into one, i.e. surname, given names? I have combined the columns successfully, but cannot get the names to read as text in the formula bar. That in itself is not a problem, but searching for someone in a large database is - the name comes up as "not found". I have tried formatting cells without success. Thanks i.a. for any help. -- Anne PICKETTS Waipu, NZ

I hope you have a copy of the table before you merged the columns. If so, please go back to it. Instead of "merging" the two existing columns, create a new, third column. What you want to do now is called "concatenating strings," that is, combining strings of text using a formula. There are two different way to write the formula (use the cell labels as appropriate): =CONCATENATE(A2," ",B2) or =A2&" "&B2 The " " is to put a space between the names. You can then copy that formula and paste it in each cell of the new column; the cell designations will automatically adjust. Be certain the new column is formated "General" on the Number tab; otherwise, the cell will contain the formula, not the result. DO NOT delete the two original columns. It is a cardinal rule of database management that you do not "combine" data into a single field when it can be maintained in two or more fields. You never know when you might want to do something that would involve having them separated, and doing the reverse (putting the names back into two columns from one) would be extremely time consuming. By having the names in two fields, you can create other concatenated strings for other purposes, for example: =B2&", "&A2 will give you a list with lastname first, separated by a comma and a space: Surname, Given Name Merging columns is almost never a good idea. I wish Excel wouldn't even give people the option to do it. Diana > > Is there anyone on the list who has experience with combining > two columns into one, i.e. surname, given names? > I have combined the columns successfully, but cannot get the > names to read as text in the formula bar. That in itself is not > a problem, but searching for someone in a large database is - > the name comes up as "not found". I have tried formatting > cells without success. > > Thanks i.a. for any help. > > -- > Anne PICKETTS > Waipu, NZ > >