Working with very large queries and having problems

Hello everyone!



I recently acquired updated address records for about 31,000 Individuals, but made a huge mistake when setting up the original exported list that I sent to the data broker: I forgot to include any Address Import IDs. There is something wrong with the original Export, so I can't just pull the list again with that field added in order to obtain those sorely-needed IDs. After working with Blackbaud Support, we concluded that my only option--and it makes me wince just to type it--was to create a Query with Criterion of "Constituent Import ID one of..." and, 500 records at a time, pasting all those Import IDs into the Query module so it can spit out the corresponding Address Import IDs. Seems straightforward enough, right? Too bad it's not working out that way.



The list in its entirety chokes the Query module when I try this, so I had to split the list in two in order to get RE: to digest this feast. So I drop the first 15,950 Import IDs into a spreadsheet, highlight the top 500 records, pull over an instance of the criterion and paste my 500 Import IDs. Then, I go back to the Excel spreadsheet, right-click the highlighted records, select Delete, and then Shift Cells Up. The Old IDs go away, the highlighted area stays put, and the next 500 records slide into place, ready to be copied and pasted. Lather, rinse, repeat, until the spreadsheet is empty.



And yet, the number of records returned never matches the number that I put in. I am putting in a Constituent Import ID and asking for a Preferred Address Import ID--a one-to-one relationship. I would expect to put in 15,950 records and get 15,950 back. The closest I have gotten so far is 15,943, both in the Query's own Results tab and in the output of an Export built around this Query. It's baffling--we tried various explanations: Is it filtering out Deceased or Inactive records? Not anymore, it isn't. Do those missing records account for people without address records? Well, in that case I would expect the Export to still return their record, but leave the Address Import ID field blank. That is not what is happening.



I have run through all of this with Blackbaud Support. The only possibility I can fathom right now is that those 7 missing records are somehow not making it from my spreadsheet to the Query; but I'm not even highlighting them myself except that one time, and from then on, Excel is automatically moving records into place. Using my method, if my final number is going to be wrong at all due to input errors, it's most likely going to be off by a multiple of 500, but no, I'm only missing 7. And last time, 10. And the time before that, 12. That makes no sense at all, given my method. At no point do I highlight any fewer than 500 records, except in the last set, which is 450. It may sound like a small margin of error, but for my purposes, I need to take the list of Import IDs I already have and get an identical list to match up to this one so I can import these addresses.



What gives? Has anybody else had issues like this? How did you solve them? Any tips for better ways to organize this? Any other ideas what might be going wrong?