Mass updating "and" to "&"?

Allison Stephens

We have multiple family name accounts in our database with "and" and several with "&" (ex: "Joe and Mary Smith" vs. "Joe & Mary Smith"). We would like to change all of these to "&" to make our name formats consistent within our database. Is there any way to do this?



I looked in the "Mass Update" feature, and it doesn't look like we have the option to update Account Names this way. We've already completed the Name Conversion tool, so we can't use that to apply any mass updates, unfortunately.



Any insight?

Jeffrey Haguewood

Allison - You could export Base - All Constituents or just the Family Name accounts to a report with the name fields listed.  Include the Account Number (not the Account Ref) in the report as the first column.  Export the report to Excel.  Modify data in the sheet as needed, but don't edit the Account Number column or the column headers (this is very important).  Use Find and Replace in Excel to convert "and" to "&".  Then do a quick run through manually to make sure everything looks accurate.  Reimport the data back into eTapestry using the Account Number as a perfect duplicate check.  I call this process a "mass edit."  It works well for most account and account persona cleanup projects.  Here is more information on keeping your eTapestry database clean and healthy.

Allison Stephens

Thanks, Jeffrey! I didn't know that was a possibility. I think that will work for us. I'll post again if I have any more questions.