Data cleaning guides

Step-by-step help for the spreadsheet problems we see most — with Excel methods you can use today, and when a tool saves time.

• How to Remove Duplicate Contacts in Excel

  Four ways to remove duplicate contacts in Excel — Remove Duplicates, COUNTIF, UNIQUE() and a no-formula tool — plus how to catch duplicates hidden by spaces.

• How to Clean a CSV Before Importing into HubSpot

  A checklist for cleaning a contacts CSV before a HubSpot import: headers, emails, duplicates, phones, dates and countries — fewer errors and duplicate records.

• How to Standardize Phone Numbers in Excel

  Standardise phone numbers in Excel: strip spaces and symbols, handle leading zeros and country codes, and convert numbers to international E.164 format.

• How to Prepare CSV Data for a CRM Import

  Prepare CSV data for a CRM import (HubSpot, Zoho, Salesforce, Pipedrive): structure, required fields, formats, deduplication and a reusable cleanup recipe.

• How to Clean a CSV Before Importing into Zoho CRM

  Prepare a CSV for Zoho CRM import: fix headers, clean emails and phones, format dates as MM/dd/yyyy, handle mandatory fields and picklist values.

• How to Clean a CSV Before Importing into Salesforce

  Prepare a CSV for Salesforce Data Loader or Import Wizard: required fields, Record Type, External IDs, picklist values, date format and encoding tips.

• How to Clean a CSV Before Importing into Pipedrive

  Prepare a CSV for Pipedrive: map contacts, organizations and deals, clean emails for duplicate detection, format phones and custom fields correctly.

• How to Clean a CSV for Mailchimp Import

  Clean a contact list for Mailchimp import: fix Email Address formatting, remove duplicates and bounced addresses, format MERGE fields and tags correctly.

• How to Standardize Dates in Excel

  Learn why mixed date formats happen in Excel, how to fix them with TEXT() and Find & Replace, and convert dates to the universal YYYY-MM-DD format.

• How to Fix CSV Encoding for Excel

  Fix CSV encoding problems that turn accented characters into garbled text in Excel — UTF-8, BOM, delimiter issues and step-by-step solutions.

• How to Compare Two CSV Files

  Compare two CSV files to find added, removed and changed rows — manual Excel methods, diff tools and key-column matching for accurate results.

• How to Merge CSV Files

  Merge CSV files by appending rows or joining on a key column — manual Excel methods, common pitfalls like column mismatch, and a no-formula approach.

• How to Validate CSV Data Before Import

  Validate CSV data before a CRM or database import: check required fields, email and phone formats, data types and value ranges to prevent rejected rows.

• How to Map CSV Columns for CRM Import

  Map CSV column headers to the fields your CRM expects — HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho — so every field lands in the right property on import.