Thanks Dave, this worked out great, as the middle names were no longer needed.
RC

"Dave Peterson" wrote:

Do you need to keep the original middle names?

If no, I'd select that column
data|text to columns
fixed width
draw a line between the first and second character
(and remove any that excel guessed)
And choose to ignore (skip) the second column.

If you need to keep the data, I'd use another column with a formula like:

=left(c1,1)

and drag down.



RC wrote:

In a spreadsheet containing a long list of names, with the last, first, and
middle names in separate columns, what is the easiest way to replace each
middle name with only a middle initial?

--

Dave Peterson