version 2.5

Spinnaker Strings features an easy to use concatenation and text to columns feature along with a choice of 16 String modification procedures. If you do a lot of text modifications in Excel you should give this add-in a try. Price: $25.00

Formatting:

• LOWER

Converts all uppercase letters in a text string to lowercase. STRINGS > strings

• PROPER

Capitalizes the first letter in a text string and any other letters in text that follow any character other than a letter. Converts all other letters to lowercase letters. string > String or STRING > String, or StRiNg >String

• UPPER

Converts text to uppercase. string>STRING

• CLEAN

Removes all nonprintable characters from text. Use CLEAN on text imported from other applications that contains characters that may not print with your operating system. For example, you can use CLEAN to remove some low-level computer code that is frequently at the beginning and end of data files and cannot be printed. Char(7) is a nonprintable character in Excel: CHAR(7)&"String"&CHAR(7)>String

• TRIM

Removes all spaces from text except for single spaces between words. Use TRIM on text that you have received from another application that may have irregular spacing.
"  My     String  ">"My String"

• LTRIM

Removes all leading spaces from text.
"  My     String  ">"My     String  "

• RTRIM

Removes all trailing spaces from text.
"  My     String  ">"  My     String"

Text Modification Procedures

• INSERTLEFT

  Inserts a string to the left of a text string. You enter the string you want to insert.
  add "My " to String > "My String"

• INSERTMIDDLE

Inserts a string in the middle of a text string. You enter the string you want to insert and at which character you insert the string.
Add "new " to "My String" > "My new String"

• INSERTRIGHT

Inserts a string to the right of a text string. You enter the string you want to insert.
Add "s" to "My new String" > "My new Strings"

• LEFT

Returns the first (or leftmost) character or characters in a text string. You enter the number of characters you want to keep.
First 6 characters of "My new Strings" > "My new"

• RIGHT

Returns the last (or rightmost) character or characters in a text string. You enter the number of characters you want to keep.
Last 7 characters of "My new Strings" > "Strings"

• MID

Returns a specific number of characters from a text string, starting at the position you specify. You can also specify the number of characters you want to keep.
Middle 3 characters starting at 4 "My new Strings" > "new"

• MID-REPLACE

Replaces a specified number of characters in a text string with characters from a text string you specify. The length of the text string will not change. You have to specify the starting character # for edit. The # of Characters to replace field is optional.
"My old String" > "My new String"

• REPLACE

Replaces a found text string with any text string that you specify. You can choose to search case sensitive.
String > Text

• SUBSTITUTE

Substitutes new text for old text in a text string. Use SUBSTITUTE when you want to replace specific text in a text string. Use REPLACE when you want to replace any text that occurs in a specific location in a text string. SUBSTITUTE is always case sensitive
String > Text but not STRING > Text

dialog click anywhere on the dialog to read the explanation

Concatenate Strings Dialog

Select Range/Region:

This box allows you to specify the range you want to use in the concatenation. (back to dialog)

Select Insertion Point:

This box lets you specify where the concatenated column should go. (back to dialog)

Custom Header

You can specify a new header of your choice, or you can let Spinnaker Strings concatenate the headers of the concatenated columns. (back to dialog)

Parts

The Parts of the concatenation can either be selected from the list of fields, or a text can be entered that connects other fields. An example could be: BookName(Part1), is supplied by: (Part 2), Supplier E-mail(Part 3). In this case you will get a column that displays which book is supplied by which Supplier.
Although connecting text will use up one concatenated field you can also concatenate concatenated fields into yet other new columns. (back to dialog)

Enable Auto Text to Columns

The Enable Auto Text to Columns feature is mainly intended to be used when you plan to combine this file with another file, like you can do with "Spinnaker Merges". When using this feature the concatenated fields will be separated by pipe("|")-characters. After a merge you can use the AutoTextToColumns option that is built into the Text to Columns feature to display exactly the same columns again. (back to dialog)

OK

This button applies the concatenation you specified. If you can see the results without closing the dialog, you can adjust the concatenation until you have the result you are looking for. (back to dialog)

Close

The Close button will close the dialog. (back to dialog)

Make Values or Keep Formulas

By default Spinnaker Strings will convert the results to values, but if you want to keep the results in formulas you should click on the "Keep Formulas" button. (back to dialog)

dialog2 click anywhere on the dialog to read the explanation

Format and Modify Text Strings

Select a Range

This box determines the range to which the procedure will be applied. (back to dialog)

Procedure to Use

From this box you may choose the procedure you wish to apply. (back to dialog)

The "Format and Modify Text Strings" dialog is designed to adjust in size and content to accommodate the specific chosen procedure.

When you choose "CLEAN", "LOWER", "LTRIM", "PROPER", "RTRIM", "TRIM", or "UPPER" no further entries are needed, therefore the dialog will remain unchanged.

When you choose any of the other procedures ("INSERTLEFT", "INSERTMIDDLE", "INSERTRIGHT", "LEFT", "MID", "MID-REPLACE", "REPLACE", "RIGHT", "SUBSTITUTE") the dialog displays additional boxes that require entries. The dialog also enlarges to display an example of the possible result before you actually make changes. The dialog allows you to review each cell by using the "Find Next" button. You may replace or edit individual cell contents as you wish with the "Replace" button or change the entire range with "Replace All". (back to dialog)

Example

The caption of this group box will display the currently reviewed cell. (back to dialog)

Empty space

The empty space between "Example" and "Becomes" is a label that will display the contents of the currently reviewed cell. (back to dialog)

Becomes

This text box will display the result after applying the procedure with "Replace" or "Replace All". If you don’t like the result for the current cell, you can edit the result and press "Replace". Then the content of the current cell will be replaced. (back to dialog)

Find Next

This button will let Excel find the next Match for the "Find this String"-entry and display the result of a proposed "Replace with this String" in the example box. Nothing changes in the file. (back to dialog)

Replace

This button will let Excel replace the original entry with the new entry and then proceed to find the next occurrence of the "Find this String"-entry. (back to dialog)

Replace All

This button will let Excel find any occurrence of the "Find this String"-entry and substitute that string with the "Replace with this String"-entry. In this case you won't see (again) what will be changing to what. (back to dialog)

Match Case

If you click on "Match Case", Excel will only look for cells with the exact character string specified, including specific Upper Case and Lower Case characters. This box only comes up when you chose the procedure "REPLACE" from the procedure box. (back to dialog)