Tidying up a list step by step

Tidy up this list is a guided cleanup. It goes through the problems in name, e-mail, company and job title columns that have an automatic fix, in small groups, shows every change on examples from your own list, and writes only after your approval at the end.

Where to find it#

Open Analyze in the list header. When at least one check has an automatic fix, a card Tidy up this list ("Step by step, with preview and approval") appears above the checks. It opens a side panel; the list stays usable beside it. The card is not offered on the shared sample list or on a list you can only read.

How a run goes#

1. Start — the panel states what will never happen: nothing is written until you approve, no row is deleted, no column is removed, nothing is written back to your source. Click Start tidying.
2. Structure — what moves or removes a part of a value: remarks in brackets taken out of names, "first.last" split into two fields, titles, nicknames, emoji, invisible characters.
3. Name fields (optional) — the AI can sort out name fields that do not hold a person (see below).
4. Spelling — capitalisation, legal forms and e-mail typos. It is proposed on top of what you accepted before.
5. Approval — the groups you accepted, each with its number of rows and up to 3 examples, and the total number of cells that would be written. One button writes.

Each group shows how many rows and which columns it touches, up to 10 random example rows (old value struck through, new value beside it), and the grid beside the panel shows exactly that group's rows with the affected cells highlighted. Per group you choose Review or Skip; a Safe group also offers Accept all.

Safe and Please review#

• Safe — no letter is lost and none is added. You may accept all rows of the group at once.
• Please review — the spelling changes. Click Review and tick the rows you want (a checkbox at the top ticks all); nothing is pre-ticked.

A fix that would lose or invent characters is not proposed at all — except the correction of a known e-mail domain typo, which always comes as "Please review". Groups of more than 500 rows come in parts.

The draft#

Every proposed change sits in a draft. The draft is not kept: closing the panel or reloading the page discards it, and you start again.

After you approve#

The approval lists the changes per group; you can still take a group out. A cell someone changed during the run is not overwritten — the report lists it. Every written change keeps its old value and can be undone one by one in the Changes panel; what a fix removed from a value (a remark, a nickname) is kept with the row. The checks are counted again automatically, without the AI checks. The changes are not sent to a connected source — that stays a separate step in the Changes panel (Write to HubSpot, or whichever source the list comes from).

Related topics: fixing-issues · names-companies-job-titles · ai-checks · what-the-ai-sees.

FAQ#

What is "Tidy up this list"?#

It is a guided cleanup in the Analyze panel: it goes through the problems in name, e-mail, company and job title columns that have an automatic fix, in small groups, shows each change on examples from your list, and writes only after your final approval. Other fixes (countries, duplicates, empty rows) stay in the Analyze panel.

Where do I find Tidy up this list?#

Open Analyze in the list header; the card "Tidy up this list" appears when at least one check has an automatic fix. It is not offered on the shared sample list or on a list you can only read. If none of the fixes is in a name, e-mail, company or job title column, the run says "Nothing to tidy".

Does Tidy up change my data before I approve?#

No — nothing is written until you click the write button at the final approval. Every proposed change sits in a draft; no row is deleted, no column is removed, and nothing is written back to your source.

What happens if I close the panel or reload the page?#

The draft is discarded and nothing is written; you start again with "Start tidying". Changes you already approved and wrote stay in the list.

What do the examples in each group show?#

One group of changes is shown at a time, with up to 10 random example rows from your own list (old value struck through, new value beside it). The grid beside the panel shows exactly that group's rows with the affected cells highlighted.

What is the difference between "Safe" and "Please review"?#

"Safe" means no letter is lost and none is added, so you may accept the whole group at once. "Please review" means the spelling changes; you tick the rows you want, nothing is pre-ticked. A fix that would lose or invent characters is not proposed at all, except a known e-mail domain typo, which always comes as "Please review".

In which order does Tidy up work?#

First Structure (remarks in brackets taken out of names, "first.last" split, titles, nicknames, emoji, invisible characters), then optionally the AI sorts the name fields, then Spelling (capitalisation, legal forms, e-mail typos). The spelling is proposed on top of what you accepted before.

What is the AI step "Do the name fields hold people at all?"#

It is an optional step between Structure and Spelling that sorts name fields holding a company, a mailbox like "office", random characters, or a name with a company in the other field. The name fields of rows it names get no capitalization fix; the grid shows these rows so you can edit them yourself. You can skip the step with "Go on without sorting".

Does the AI step cost credits and what does it see?#

Yes, it uses AI and consumes credits, like the AI checks of an analysis. Only name fields that stand out are sent, not whole rows; rows that simply look like a person's name and rows with a LinkedIn profile are left out, and each distinct value is sent once.

What happens if a cell changed while I was tidying?#

A cell that someone changed during the run is not overwritten. The report after writing says how many cells were left as they were and shows up to 10 of them.

Can I undo what Tidy up wrote?#

Yes — every change keeps its old value and can be undone one by one in the Changes panel. What a fix removed from a value (a remark in brackets, a nickname) is kept with the row, and the checks are counted again automatically afterwards (without the AI checks).

Are the changes sent to HubSpot, Attio or another connected source?#

No — Tidy up only changes the list. Sending changes back to a connected source is a separate step in the Changes panel (the button "Write to …" with the source's name).