Extract a subset of data from one sheet and copy to another sheet

[Minorchord]

I have a spreadsheet with 10 columns (first name, last name, Street, town, zip etc) and 40,000 rows of names. This is a list of registered voters.   I want to search for specific names of folks Who have committed to nominate me to get on the ballot, then copy the row with that name to a new spreadsheet so I can then have a mailing list of my supporters. I know I can filter the columns and search for one specific name at a time from the filter search box But I have 25 names to search for every other day. It is onerous doing this one by one.  Can you help? It’s a nonpartisan election.

[#2]

Hello,

You can use VLOOKUP to do that... You can as well upload a sample data

[#3]

@Abiola1 that doesn’t work.  Or else I am not doing it correctly. I need more specific instructions. Thank you.

[#4]

If VLOOKUP is unable to handle the task, INDEX /MATCH or IF should definitely get the job done...

As reiterated earlier, you may have to upload a sample file

[#5]

@Abiola1 

Here is the sample file.  If I want to extract  the last names, and the row of data associated with these names,  and copy to a new sheet, what do I do and where do I do it?

[#6]

I've seen the data and Last Name is located in column B. Just to get your question clearly, do you imply you want to copy all the Last Name from column B to another sheet? If yes, all you need to do is select all that values by executing CTRL + SHIFT + Down Arrow from cell B2. Then CTRL + C to copy. Click on the plus sheet icon to open a new sheet and CTRL + V to Paste.

In another way, if you want to combine Last Name and First Name together:
1. You can use Flash Fill, CONCATENATE, CONCAT or & to join.

Let me know if this is what you want or not... The

[#7]

I@Abiola1 

I want to search for  a dozen names.  When these dozen names are found I want to select the name and all the data in the row (last name, first name, Middle, suffix etc etc)  and copy this info to a new sheet. I want to do this for the dozen names at one time not by individual name.

[#8]

@Minorchord 

May I make an alternative suggestion for meeting your need.

First let me ask a question, though. I looked at your sample file, and see nothing there that indicates that a person IS someone who has committed to nominate you. Do you have such a column? If not, add one. Call it say, "Nominator" or something to that effect. And keep it up=to-date, with "Y" entered into the column to indicate "Yes, a supporter." Then add another column--"LetterSent" or something to that effect. Fill this with a "Y" after you've sent a letter to them.

Then, keeping the single database, use  Word's MailMerge function--where you can access this Excel file as your source--with those two fields to indicate "Nominator" and "LetterSent" used to filter which letters to send today:

• with the former always "Y"--which sifts out those who haven't pledged to nominate;
• and the latter set to include only those who are blank--

Use Mail Merge to print the personalized letter, to print address labels (Word will even do the sexy bar code for the zip code)... if you really get fancy, you can add conditional paragraphs thanking those who've donated, but leaving the paragraph out of those who support but haven't contributed....

After you've sent the letter to the 25 new names, you update their records (filtering your Excel database as above) and change the "LetterSent" field to "Y". Easily done in mass, by entering it once and copy....paste down the rest.

That way if somebody changes their mind, decides not to nominate, or whatever, you make a single change in the sole database and you're up-to-date.

Principle: It's always better, from a data integrity point of view, to have a single database. Update fields in that to indicate status. Update addresses in one place. Update marital status (if that's part of your data) in one place. Don't make copies or extracts. You will run into problems with data getting out of sync.

MailMerge can be tricky the first time or two, but you (or your staff) will quickly get the hang of it. And your database will thank you.

[#9]

@mathetes 

You are absolutely right!  Now when you say it, the answer seems obvious!  You clearly get what I am trying to do.  I am running for Council in my town of 40,000. The state gives one access to all the registered voters in town 32,600 ( a bogus number as the state doesn't scrub the data of those who have moved or died).  I have to get 400 petitions signed to get on the ballot (1% of registered voters plus a cushion of extras if a nominating petition is invalidated).  When someone signs my petition I want to send them a thank you note and highlight them in the database so I know they are a potential supporter of me. Then if I collect enough signatures to get on the ballot, I will continue to contact these folks asking for their vote.  Thank you so much for your help.  

[#10]

You're very welcome. I never realized it was possible to get such a list of all registered voters in a given district. That in itself is kind of surprising in this day when there's so much concern about privacy. Do you need to be a certified candidate to have access or can any citizen request it? [I'm not looking for it; just wondering what kind of privacy protection NJ townships provide.]

[#11]

@mathetes 

I guess it is public information.  I got it from the county board of elections. I was not any kind of official anything.

Thanks for all your help!