CRM Cleanup Macro Pack: One-Click Fixes for Common Issues

Stop wasting hours fixing CRM exports: one click is all you need

If your sales or ops team spends more time cleaning CRM exports than closing deals, you are not alone. Dirty contact records, inconsistent phone formats, and duplicate accounts create downstream errors in workflows, email sends, and reporting. This CRM Cleanup Macro Pack bundles an Excel .xlsm macro set and a Google Apps Script pack that automate the most common spreadsheet cleanup tasks so you can reclaim hours per week and get reliable, standardized data across systems.

Quick summary — what this pack does (inverted pyramid)

• One-click trims and normalization to remove invisible characters, fix casing, and standardize names and addresses.
• Phone number normalization to configurable formats (E.164, national, or human-readable).
• Smart duplicate merge using configurable keys and fuzzy matching to combine contacts safely.
• Log & preview so you can review every change and rollback if needed.
• Works in both Excel (.xlsm) and Google Sheets (Apps Script) with identical behavior and settings export/import.

Why this matters in 2026

By early 2026, CRM platforms continued to evolve with stronger AI capture and suggested matches, but messy exports remain common when teams use integrations, ad-hoc CSV imports, or manual entry from events. Recent industry coverage highlights that even top CRM solutions need clean inputs to run automation safely. Spreadsheets remain the universal staging ground for data fixes and audits.

At the same time, automation expectations rose: teams expect AI and no-code tools to work without constant manual cleanup. That creates a paradox noted across business reports in late 2025 — automation increases output but surfaces the need for reliable data hygiene pipelines. This macro pack addresses that gap by providing repeatable, auditable cleanup steps you can run before syncing back to your CRM or marketing platform.

What’s included

The pack includes two downloadable packages and documentation:

• Excel Cleanup Pack (.xlsm)
  • TrimAndNormalize.xlsm — trims, removes non-printables, standardizes case, fixes spacing.
  • PhoneNormalize.xlsm — normalizes phone numbers using patterns you configure, supports country codes.
  • MergeDupes.xlsm — duplicate detection and safe merge with preview and audit log.
  • SettingsExport.xlsm — saves and loads cleanup rules to a JSON sheet so teams share the same rules.
• Google Apps Script Pack
  • AppsScript cleanup library that reproduces the Excel behavior in Google Sheets.
  • Installable menu and sidebar UI for one-click operations and settings.
  • Sample project and step-by-step deployment guide.
• Documentation & templates with real-world examples, test datasets, and a short video walkthrough to get your team onboarded in 30 minutes.

How the macros & scripts work — practical overview

Each tool follows the same three-step pattern: preview, apply, and log. That makes changes auditable and reversible when you work on copies of source sheets.

1) Trim and normalize

Invisible characters and inconsistent casing cause matching failures. The Trim tool performs these tasks:

• Remove leading/trailing whitespace and non-printable Unicode characters.
• Replace multiple spaces with a single space.
• Optionally apply title case to name fields while preserving ALL CAPS when detected.

VBA example: fast array-based trim loop
Sub TrimColumn(rng As Range)
  Dim arr As Variant, out() As Variant
  arr = rng.Value2
  ReDim out(1 To UBound(arr, 1), 1 To UBound(arr, 2))
  For i = 1 To UBound(arr, 1)
    out(i, 1) = Trim(Replace(arr(i, 1), Chr(160), " "))
  Next i
  rng.Value2 = out
End Sub

The Google Apps Script equivalent pulls the column to a 2D array, normalizes, and writes back in one operation to avoid slow cell-by-cell calls.

2) Phone normalization

Phone numbers come in thousands of formats. The pack includes configurable patterns to convert telephone values to:

• E.164 (+1234567890) for API imports.
• Human-readable national format (123-456-7890).
• Digits-only for systems that require raw values.

Key features:

• Country code detection by leading digits and optional default country setting.
• Extension parsing (x123) with a dedicated column for extensions.
• Validation flagging for invalid numbers and an output column explaining why a row failed.

// Apps Script example: simple phone normalizer
function normalizePhone(phone, defaultCountry) {
  var digits = phone.replace(/[^0-9x+]/g, "");
  // simple E164 conversion with default country prefix
  if (digits.startsWith("+")) return digits;
  if (digits.startsWith("00")) return "+" + digits.slice(2);
  return "+" + defaultCountry + digits;
}

3) Duplicate detection and safe merge

MergeDupes offers two modes:

1. Exact key — combine rows where a configured key (email, CRM id) matches exactly.
2. Fuzzy match — use normalized name + phone + domain to find likely duplicates and present a preview for human confirmation.

Merging rules are configurable: which column to keep when conflicts appear, whether to concatenate notes, and how to handle blank fields. Every merge produces an audit row with source IDs and the final combined record.

Real-world example — a small sales team case study

A 12-person B2B sales team in late 2025 used this pack to clean two months of event capture exports before importing to their CRM. Before using the pack they spent 8–10 hours weekly cleaning records and still missed duplicates during outreach. After a two-week pilot they reported:

• Manual cleanup time reduced from 10 hours/week to 90 minutes.
• Duplicate contact rate in CRM dropped 68% in the first import cycle.
• Open rates on follow-up emails increased by 4 percentage points due to reduced bounce and duplicate sends.

Those improvements translated to faster lead routing and clearer pipeline reports. The team used the SettingsExport to keep rules consistent across reps and added the Apps Script version to their shared Google Sheets workspace for event volunteers to run locally before pushing CSVs.

Safety, testing, and best practices

Automation that changes data needs guardrails. Follow these practices before running macros on production exports:

• Always work on a copy of the sheet and keep the original raw export.
• Run preview mode first and scan the audit log for unexpected merges.
• Create a small sample dataset to validate rules and edge cases (international phones, non-Latin characters).
• Use incremental runs: run Trim and Phone Normalize first, then re-run duplicate detection.
• Maintain a settings file so team-wide rules are consistent and auditable.

Automation is only as good as the data and the rules you set. Test, preview, and log every run.

Performance tips for large datasets (50k+ rows)

• In Excel, prefer array writes and avoid looping with Range.Select. Use Application.ScreenUpdating = False and disable calculation during the run.
• For Google Sheets, batch reads/writes and avoid repeated getValue calls. Use the Sheets API for extremely large jobs or process in chunks.
• Consider Power Query (Excel) for initial heavy transformations, then apply macros for specialized normalization not supported in Power Query.
• Break tasks into passes: normalize, then validate, then merge. That reduces compute per pass and makes debugging easier.

How to install and run

Excel (.xlsm)

1. Download the .xlsm package from our Templates Library and save it to a trusted folder.
2. Open Excel, enable macros when prompted, and trust the document if you plan to use the ribbon buttons.
3. Make a copy of your CRM export and paste it into the provided "RawImport" sheet.
4. Open the Cleanup menu and run Preview for each tool. Review the generated Audit sheet.
5. When satisfied, run Apply. The pack creates a timestamped backup sheet before writing changes.

Google Sheets (Apps Script)

1. Open your Google Sheet and choose Extensions → Apps Script.
2. Create a new project and paste the Apps Script library files from the pack (no special APIs required for basic use).
3. Save and reload the sheet. The installable menu will appear with the same Preview/Apply options.
4. The script uses the Apps Script Properties Service to store settings or you can import the JSON settings sheet from Excel.
5. Grant permissions at the first run. Use preview mode and check the Audit sheet before applying changes.

Integration and automation workflows

This pack is designed to sit in the middle of your data pipeline. Typical workflows we've implemented in 2025–2026 include:

• Zapier/Make automation that drops CRM webhooks into a Google Sheet, runs Apps Script cleanup via a webhook trigger, then calls the CRM API to upsert clean records.
• Excel Power Automate flows that pull CSVs from a shared folder, open the .xlsm in headless mode on a provisioned machine, run macros, and push cleaned files to an SFTP for import.
• Scheduled Google Workspace triggers that run Apps Script nightly to normalize incoming leads from a form and flag invalid phones for manual review.

Advanced strategies and future-proofing

Looking forward in 2026, expect the following trends to influence your cleanup strategy:

• AI-assisted validation: More CRMs offer ML-powered dedupe suggestions. Use the macro pack to pre-clean data so AI models have better inputs.
• Federated data policies: Privacy-first architecture will require you to anonymize or hash sensitive fields before sharing with third-party tools. The pack includes hashing snippets you can apply before export.
• Interoperability: Standard formats like E.164 and common JSON settings make it easier to switch between tools. The pack’s SettingsExport is compatible with most ETL tools.

Troubleshooting FAQ

My macros are slow. What should I do?

Disable screen updates and calculations in Excel and use batch writes. In Google Sheets, process rows in 5k chunk sizes and use the Sheets API or Apps Script Cache for intermediate results.

What about international data and non-Latin characters?

The pack normalizes Unicode whitespace and preserves non-Latin scripts. Phone parsing uses digit extraction and will respect multi-byte characters in name fields. Test with representative samples and update country patterns where needed.

How safe is the duplicate merge?

Safe by design: preview mode always runs first, merges include audit metadata, and the default configuration favors human confirmation for fuzzy matches. You can configure auto-merge thresholds but we recommend conservative defaults.

Why buy this pack instead of building your own?

• Prebuilt, tested rules that handle common edge cases — saves weeks of development and testing.
• Cross-platform parity — identical behavior in Excel and Google Sheets reduces errors when teams use both ecosystems.
• Auditability and settings export — essential for compliance and team governance.
• Ongoing updates: our Templates Library issues rule updates addressing new phone formats and regional edge cases observed in 2025–2026 imports.

Get started now — actionable checklist

1. Download the CRM Cleanup Macro Pack from the Templates Library.
2. Test on a 100-row sample. Run Trim and Phone Normalize in preview mode.
3. Run duplicate detection and review the audit. Adjust match keys if needed.
4. Apply changes and log the cleaned file. Import into a sandbox CRM environment first.
5. Schedule an automation to run nightly or trigger on file drops for ongoing hygiene.

Final takeaway

In 2026, reliable data hygiene is no longer optional — it’s foundational to any automation strategy. This CRM Cleanup Macro Pack gives small businesses and ops teams a pragmatic, auditable, and cross-platform way to standardize and repair CRM exports before they cause costly workflow failures. Use the one-click tools to reduce manual cleanup, avoid duplicate outreach, and make downstream automation trustworthy.

Ready to try it? Download the Excel .xlsm and Google Apps Script pack from our Templates Library and follow the 30-minute onboarding guide. If you want custom rules or onboarding help, our team offers paid setup for busy ops teams.

Call to action

Visit the Templates Library to download the CRM Cleanup Macro Pack and get a free 7-day trial of our premium support for rule configuration. Standardize, automate, and stop cleaning up after your tools — get the pack and reclaim your team’s time today.

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