Excel Fuzzy Matching Unveiled: Fuzzy Match Jane Doe to Doe Jane - Episode 2301

Microsoft Excel Tutorial: Using Power Query Fuzzy Match to Match LastName FirstName to FirstName LastName. Welcome to the MrExcel Netcast, where we bring you the best Excel tips and tricks to help you become an Excel pro. In this episode, we will be revisiting my solution to episode 2297, where we will be using a fuzzy match to solve a common data matching problem. Thanks to the comments from XLarium and Daniel Dion, we will also be incorporating Bart's suggestion to save a few clicks in the process. The problem we are tackling is matching a list of names in the format of first name, last name to a list of names in the format of last name, first name. This can be a tedious and time-consuming task, but with the help of Power Query, we can easily solve this problem. Both lists need to be formatted as tables, and we will be using the Data tab to select "From Table or Range" to create a connection. In the previous episode, we had to go through several steps to split the data at the comma, rearrange it, and convert it to proper case. However, with the use of Power Query, all of these steps are eliminated. We simply select "Close and Load To..." and choose to only create a connection. Then, we repeat the same process for the second table, which we have renamed as "RightTable". Once we have both tables connected, we can use the merge function to match the data. This is where Bart's suggestion comes in. Instead of manually matching the data, we can use the "Use Fuzzy Matching to Perform the Merge" option. This functionality, which was previously only available through a tool from Microsoft Labs, is now built into Power Query. This allows us to quickly and accurately match the data, with the same results as before. We simply expand the table and voila, our data is now matched correctly. We can then close and load the data, and our problem is solved in a fraction of the time it would have taken us before. I want to give a special shout-out to XLarium, Daniel, and Bart for their helpful comments and suggestions. Your feedback is greatly appreciated and helps us improve our content for our viewers. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please leave them in the comments section below the YouTube video. And don't forget to check out my new book, MrExcel LX, filled with all my favorite Excel tips and tricks. If you like what you see, please subscribe to our channel and hit the notification bell to stay updated on our latest videos. Thank you for watching and we'll see you next time for another netcast from MrExcel. Buy Bill Jelen's latest Excel book: https://www.mrexcel.com/products/latest/ You can help my channel by clicking Like or commenting below: https://www.mrexcel.com/like-mrexcel-... #excel #microsoft #exceltutorial #microsoftexcel #walkthrough #powerquery This video answers these common search terms: how to do fuzzy lookup excel for list of names how to do a fuzzy match in excel how to do fuzzy match excel how to do fuzzy match in excel how to do name match in excel how to match names from two columns in excel how to match names from two lists in excel how to match names in two lists in excel how to pull matching names from multiple columns in excel how to swap last and first name in excel how to change last name and first name excel how to switch last name first in excel how to switch first and last names in excel how to reverse naming from last to first in excel how to do name match in excel when names are switched how to match names from two columns in excel when reversed how to match names from two lists in excel one is last first how to match names in two lists in excel when names reversed how to pull matching names from multiple columns in excel fuzzy how to fuzzy match excel how to perform fuzzy lookups in excel how to perform fuzzy matching in excel how to use fuzzy matching in excel Back in episode 2297, Evan asked how to VLOOKUP between two lists where one had DOE, JANE and the other had Jane Doe. This video solves it with Power Query's new Fuzzy Match. Thanks to @XLarium @Daniel Dion and @Bart Titulaer for their suggestions that made this solution twice as quick as before. Table of Contents (0:00) Problem Statement: Match Jane Doe to Doe, Jane (0:38) Matching two lists with names reversed (1:00) Add right table to Power Query as Connection (1:25) Left table and merge with right table in power query (1:45) Fuzzy Match join in Excel Power Query (2:08) Expand table (2:35) Clicking Like really helps the algorithm Join the MrExcel Message Board discussion about this video at https://www.mrexcel.com/board/threads...