How do I easily reverse text eg. names last-first or vice versa?

[jwm3]

Is there an easy way or a free download that will allow me to reverse text in
word documents? Eg. Using a list of names and reversing them from first
name then last or last then first?

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

I'm not sure what you mean.

Do you mean sorting?

albert
...
zelda

zelda
...
albert

Or do you mean changing:

John Smith
Jane Doe

into

Smith, John
Doe, Jane

?

Sorting is each enough. Select the list you want sorted, then choose Table -
Sort (doesn't have to be in a table -- this works on paragraphs and other
non-table lists).

If you mean the second, you might be able to do it using a wildcard
find/replace, depending on how your list is constructed. Look into using
expressions [enclosed by ()] and \n\m where n and m are the order in which
the expression are used. For example, if all I have in the selection is:

John Smith
Jane Doe

Then

Find what:(<*>) (<*>)
Replace with: \2, \1

Ensure that Use Wildcards is checked.

...will do it.

If there are sometimes middle initials, sometimes not, sometimes Jr/Sr,
etc., and other complications, then it might be difficult or impossible to
devise a one-size-fixes-all wildcard solution. You might need to resort to a
macro.

If you mean something else, then please explain.

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
http://www.herbtyson.com
Please respond in the newsgroups so everyone can follow along.
"jwm3" <jw...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
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[Jay Freedman]

You haven't really described your starting point well enough to know
what you need, but see if the procedure at
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/TblsFldsFms/SplitFirstNameLastName.htm
will do it.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

[Graham Mayor]

If it's a list, see the example at
http://www.gmayor.com/replace_using_wildcards.htm

--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org

[jwm3]

Thanks for the link. I'll try it.
John

[ahn5]

at comma, I used the text to table and then table to text feature. If names
are separted by commas, make sure use the "separate the data at the comma".
Use three columns. Highlight last name and copy/cut data to third column,
then delete first column. After completing this, use the table to text and
use the "other" character by hitting the space bar. And if you need to
change the names back like I will need to you just reverse the process.