Organizing mailing lists in Word
March 1, 2010 8:53 AM Subscribe
How do I organize, combine and alphabetize a mailing list in Word or Office?
We have three mailing lists. They are not ordered, yet.
We would like to order them and create a fourth list, containing everyone on all lists, but removing duplicates.
We would like to alphabetize the three lists by last name. Currently, they are just paragraphs in Word (this is the way the printer wants the mailing lists each month).
How do I do this in Word? Is Word the wrong program to be using?
To further complicate things.. one of the larger mailing lists is FIRSTNAME LASTNAME instead of the other way around.
We have three mailing lists. They are not ordered, yet.
We would like to order them and create a fourth list, containing everyone on all lists, but removing duplicates.
We would like to alphabetize the three lists by last name. Currently, they are just paragraphs in Word (this is the way the printer wants the mailing lists each month).
How do I do this in Word? Is Word the wrong program to be using?
To further complicate things.. one of the larger mailing lists is FIRSTNAME LASTNAME instead of the other way around.
Yes ocherdraco's right, Excel is the way to go. You can alphabetize your lists in a snap!
Here's the challenge though: if you do a simple cut and paste between Word and Excel, the entire name will appear in a single cell (for example, the name Joe Smith will appear in cell A1, Betty Jones in A2, etc.)
Because one of your lists has the names reversed compared to the other two, you will need to have the first name in one cell and the last name in another cell (for example Joe Smith - Joe in cell A1, Smith in cell A2; Betty Jones - Betty in cell B1, Smith in cell B2).
You can use Excel's fancy formulas to extract the names easily for you and place them in individual cells. Say you have in cell A1 "Joe Smith":
In cell B1, enter the following formula to extract the First name:
=LEFT(A1,(SEARCH(" ",A1)-1))
In cell C1 enter the following formula to extract the Last name
= MID(A1,(SEARCH(" ",A1)+1),100)
Looks confusing, but it will make sense when you try it!
posted by bitteroldman at 9:31 AM on March 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
Here's the challenge though: if you do a simple cut and paste between Word and Excel, the entire name will appear in a single cell (for example, the name Joe Smith will appear in cell A1, Betty Jones in A2, etc.)
Because one of your lists has the names reversed compared to the other two, you will need to have the first name in one cell and the last name in another cell (for example Joe Smith - Joe in cell A1, Smith in cell A2; Betty Jones - Betty in cell B1, Smith in cell B2).
You can use Excel's fancy formulas to extract the names easily for you and place them in individual cells. Say you have in cell A1 "Joe Smith":
In cell B1, enter the following formula to extract the First name:
=LEFT(A1,(SEARCH(" ",A1)-1))
In cell C1 enter the following formula to extract the Last name
= MID(A1,(SEARCH(" ",A1)+1),100)
Looks confusing, but it will make sense when you try it!
posted by bitteroldman at 9:31 AM on March 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
I would do this in Excel, as well. Tables paste into Excel without too much difficulty, or you can convert a table in Word into comma-separated format, then open in Excel. Excel is a a competent database for a single file (flat file). Give the data standardized headers. Use Excel's Data, Sort cabability to alphabetize. You can cut & paste FIRSTNAME LASTNAME to make it LASTNAME FIRSTNAME, and eventually, you can use Data, Import. The Data group of commands in Excel is your resource.
To remove duplicates, sort by last name, and scroll through to delete dupes, then sort by address, then sort by phone. Creative and mis-spellings can create lots of dupes.
posted by theora55 at 10:30 AM on March 1, 2010
To remove duplicates, sort by last name, and scroll through to delete dupes, then sort by address, then sort by phone. Creative and mis-spellings can create lots of dupes.
posted by theora55 at 10:30 AM on March 1, 2010
Response by poster: Thanks. I am intimidated by Excel. That's an understatement. Anyone know of how I can get someone to do this for me, or should I just suck it up and start learning. I feel like this might take me 6 hours when someone who knows what they're doing can accomplish it in 45 minutes for a tidy amount.
posted by beingresourceful at 2:12 PM on March 1, 2010
posted by beingresourceful at 2:12 PM on March 1, 2010
Well, for one thing, you could post it to MetaFilter Jobs.
posted by ocherdraco at 2:27 PM on March 1, 2010
posted by ocherdraco at 2:27 PM on March 1, 2010
Best answer: Google site:*.edu Excel tutorial Site:*.edu will search only sites in the .edu top level domain, and you'll get great tutorials from universities and schools. free. Excel isn't intuitive, but it's not a terrible beast. Your local adult ed. probably has a class you could take. It's really useful to know.
posted by theora55 at 5:13 PM on March 1, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by theora55 at 5:13 PM on March 1, 2010 [2 favorites]
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posted by ocherdraco at 9:03 AM on March 1, 2010