🔤 Text Format: Data Standardization Guide

Text Format eliminates inconsistent data by applying standardized formatting rules to text fields at scale. Clean phone numbers, standardize names, normalize addresses, and enforce data quality policies across your entire Salesforce org.

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🎯 Core Formatting Features

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📋 Common Formatting Scenarios

Scenario 1: Standardize Phone Numbers

Problem: Phone numbers in multiple formats: 5551234567, 555.123.4567, (555)-123-4567

Solution:

1. Select Phone field
2. Choose format: US Standard (555) 123-4567
3. Enable “Strip extensions”
4. Apply to 15,000 Contact records
5. Result: All phones formatted consistently

Scenario 2: Clean Company Names

Problem: Company names with inconsistent case: “acme CORPORATION”, “ACME corp”, “Acme corporation”

Solution:

1. Select Account.Name field
2. Apply Title Case
3. Add find/replace rules:
   • “corp” → “Corporation”
   • “inc” → “Inc.”
   • “llc” → “LLC”
4. Apply to all Account records
5. Result: “Acme Corporation”, standardized format

Scenario 3: Email Normalization

Problem: Mixed case emails: John@COMPANY.com, JANE@company.COM

Solution:

1. Select Email fields (Contact, Lead)
2. Apply Lowercase
3. Trim whitespace
4. Apply to all records
5. Result: john@company.com, jane@company.com

Scenario 4: Remove HTML from Descriptions

Problem: Copy-pasted descriptions contain HTML tags: <p>Description</p><br/>

Solution:

1. Select Description field
2. Enable “Strip HTML Tags”
3. Normalize whitespace
4. Apply to affected records
5. Result: Clean text without markup

Scenario 5: Extract Domain from Email

Problem: Need to populate Company_Domain__c from email addresses

Solution:

1. Select Email as source
2. Use regex pattern: @(.+)$
3. Extract match group 1
4. Write to Company_Domain__c
5. Result: john@acme.com → “acme.com”

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🛠️ Formatting Patterns Reference

Pattern Type	Before	After
Title Case	john smith	John Smith
Upper Case	california	CALIFORNIA
Lower Case	JOHN@ACME.COM	john@acme.com
Trim Spaces	John	John
Phone US	5551234567	(555) 123-4567
Phone Intl	15551234567	+1-555-123-4567
Remove HTML	<p>Text</p>	Text
Extract Domain	john@acme.com	acme.com

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🌍 Multi-Language Support

Supported Character Sets

• Latin (English, Spanish, French, German): Full case conversion support
• Cyrillic (Russian, Ukrainian): Case conversion, normalization
• Asian (Chinese, Japanese, Korean): Character-width normalization
• Hebrew & Arabic: RTL text support, special character handling
• Special Characters: Accented letters (é, ñ, ö), umlauts preserved

International Phone Formats

Country	Format Pattern	Example
United States	(XXX) XXX-XXXX	(555) 123-4567
United Kingdom	+44 XXXX XXX XXX	+44 7911 123456
Germany	+49 XXX XXXXXXX	+49 151 12345678
Australia	+61 X XXXX XXXX	+61 4 1234 5678
France	+33 X XX XX XX XX	+33 6 12 34 56 78

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🔍 Regex Pattern Examples

Common Regex Patterns

Extract Email Domain

Pattern: @(.+)$

Example: john.smith@acme.com → acme.com

Use Case: Populate Company_Domain__c field for reporting

Extract First Name from Full Name

Pattern: ^([A-Za-z]+)

Example: John Smith → John

Use Case: Split full names into first/last components

Remove Non-Numeric Characters

Pattern: [^0-9] (replace with empty)

Example: (555) 123-4567 → 5551234567

Use Case: Strip phone formatting for API integrations

Standardize State Abbreviations

Multiple Find/Replace Rules:

• “California” → “CA”
• “Texas” → “TX”
• “New York” → “NY”

Use Case: Normalize state values for consistent reporting

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⚙️ Step-by-Step: Format Phone Numbers

Step 1: Select Records

1. Open Text Format from App Launcher
2. Select object: Contact
3. Select field: Phone
4. Define query: All Contacts with Phone not blank

Step 2: Choose Format

1. Format Type: Phone Number
2. Country: United States
3. Format Style: (XXX) XXX-XXXX
4. Options:
   • ☑️ Strip extensions (x123, ext. 456)
   • ☑️ Remove invalid numbers
   • ☑️ Preserve international format (+1)

Step 3: Preview Changes

Original	Formatted	Status
5551234567	(555) 123-4567	✅ Valid
555.123.4567 x123	(555) 123-4567	✅ Valid
(555)-123-4567	(555) 123-4567	✅ Valid
123	(blank)	⚠️ Invalid – cleared

Step 4: Apply Formatting

1. Review preview results
2. Click “Apply Formatting”
3. Monitor progress: 15,234 records processed in 8 minutes
4. Download results log with before/after values

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✅ Best Practices

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🔧 Troubleshooting

Problem: Regex pattern not matching expected values

Solutions:

• Test regex pattern using online tool (regex101.com)
• Check for special characters that need escaping
• Use case-insensitive flag if needed
• Preview on small sample before bulk apply

Problem: Phone numbers not formatting correctly

Check:

• Verify country code selection matches phone numbers
• Some numbers may have incorrect digit count
• Review validation rules that may conflict
• Check for non-numeric characters causing issues

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📚 Related Documentation