Bulk updating calculated addressee/salutation

In this article:

• Overview
• Steps for bulk updating calculated addressee/salutation

Overview

When you create a new constituent record in Little Green Light, the Salutation and Addressee fields within that record are auto-populated (based on the data you enter into the first name and last name fields). These calculated values are created based on the name settings selected in your account. Read more about these name settings options here.

You can also use LGL's calculated salutation and addressee values to do a bulk update to your data. However, doing this requires exporting the calculated values and then re-importing them.

Steps for bulk updating calculated addressee/salutation

To bulk update your calculated addressee/salutation fields, please follow the steps below. 

1. Start with a constituent export from your account. You can search for specific constituents you want to update these fields for, or you can include every constituent in your account. 
2. Click the Export Results button, and then select the columns listed below in the report builder’s Customize step:
   • LGL Constituent ID
   • Prefix
   • First name
   • Last name
   • Suffix
   • Organization/Employer name
   • Spouse/partner name
   • Addressee
   • Calculated Addressee
   • Salutation

   • Calculated Salutation

     

     NOTE: You will use the LGL Constituent ID to import any changes to your data back into your account. You can use the name data as a reference for those cases where the calculated fields are not accurate to input the addressee and salutation manually.

3. In the resulting export spreadsheet, examine your data. Look at your Calculated Addressee and Calculated Salutation columns. Check each row to make sure the data is correct. If you find any data that is not correct, refer to the name columns and replace the incorrect data with the addressee and salutation that you want to use.
4. When all of your Calculated Addressee and Calculated Salutation columns contain the data you want to bring into LGL, prepare your export spreadsheet for importing by following these instructions: 

• Remove any rows where the Salutation and Addressee fields match the Calculated Salutation and Calculated Addressee fields on the export file

• Remove all columns except for LGL Constituent ID, Calculated Addressee, and Calculated Salutation
• Save your changes to your computer

NOTE: When updating constituent Salutation and Addressee fields from informal to formal, you will need to make sure the Prefix field is included in your constituent records in order for the calculated addressee and salutation fields to work as expected.

5. Upload your cleaned spreadsheet, following the instructions in Example #3 in this help article. Note that you'll be importing your new values to the LGL "Salutation" and "Addressee" fields.