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Numbers does not seem to have a way to split text into columns. I saw a post that pointed to an automator script, but tapping on that link gave me an HTTP 404 page not found. This is a very useful function, and I really wish Apple would add it. But till then, can anyone please help me with a workaround?
How is this not a native menu function? Excel has had "Text to columns" for decades.
How is this not a native menu function? Excel has had "Text to columns" for decades.
Can you link to the post? Maybe I can fix the link.
You can also split text by formula using the TEXTBETWEEN function. Here is an example:
More on TEXTBETWEEN here:
Replace the | in the formula with whatever delimiter you have in your data.
SG
SGIII has a script that works for older versions of Numbers. The version I have of it does not work as intended in version 13.1. The script I have converts the comma (or other delimiter) separated text into tab separated text and put in on the clipboard so you can paste it into the table. But Apple mucked around with how tab separated data gets pasted into a table and that broke the script. It only works correctly if the data is tabular (i.e., the same number of items/tabs in every row), which is not usually the case for this problem. Maybe there is a newer version or maybe the script can be fixed or, better yet, maybe Apple can fix the problem they created with "table import".
Thank you SGIII and Badunit. I had to say COLUMN()-2 otherwise it would miss the first word in the string. But it works!
And now I am trying to better understand how TEXTBETWEEN works. But this is good.
Pixel2Apple wrote:
Excel has had "Text to columns" for decades.
If you don't mind hunting through layered menus or ribbons with tons of functionalities, including many you may never use, then by all means use Excel! It's a great tool.
Numbers is also a great tool, with conveniences (such as the ease in having multiple tables on one sheet) not present in Excel.
Use whichever is best for what you are trying to do.
SG
Forgot to mention that you enter the formula in B2, then fill or copy into empty cells to its right.
=TEXTBETWEEN("|"&$A2&"|","|","|",COLUMN()−1)
SG
Numbers: How to split text into Columns?
