Effortless address validation in Excel: No coding needed
Webinar recap: We recently hosted a webinar that featured a detailed demonstration of our Excel plugin for address validation, showcasing its powerful capabilities. If you use Excel and need to validate addresses, this is for you.
Introducing the Excel plugin
Our Excel plugin is designed for simplicity and ease of use, allowing users to validate addresses without any coding skills. By highlighting a range of addresses, the plugin batches them, sends them to Smarty, and returns formatted data directly in the spreadsheet. This integration eliminates the need for external tools or additional steps, streamlining the validation process.
Getting started with the Excel plugin
Here's how to install and use the Excel plugin:
- Install the plugin: Navigate to the "Add-ins" button in the Home tab of Excel, search for "Smarty address verification," and add the plugin from Microsoft's Marketplace.
- Enter credentials: After installing, open the add-in and click "Show tools" to access the sidebar. Enter your Smarty AuthID and AuthToken, which you can retrieve from your Smarty account.
- Prepare your spreadsheet: Ensure the row above your addresses is empty to allow the plugin to populate headers. Highlight the addresses you want to validate.
- Choose validation options: Use the "Validate and retrieve all data" option for comprehensive results, including metadata and geocodes. Alternatively, use "Validate selected addresses" for a simpler output.
For detailed written setup instructions, see How to batch geocode and validate addresses in Excel.
Use cases and benefits
Various use cases for the Excel plugin were discussed, emphasizing its value for different types of users:
- Those on a free trial can validate up to 1,000 addresses without any integration efforts.
- Teams lacking in-house developers can use the plugin to validate addresses without extensive integration.
- Users needing address validation for one-time projects can leverage the plugin without committing to a full integration.
- Departments within an organization can use the plugin for bulk cleanses or monthly reports, enhancing their workflows without disrupting existing processes.
Geocoding and advanced features
If you're needing rooftop accurate geocodes you can do that by simply specifying the rooftop geocoding license that you'd like to use. However you do need to have an active rooftop geocoding license in order to do so, and with a free trial or the address verification license you'll only get Zip9 accuracy.
Zip9 accuracy is usually block-level, meaning you'll get the geocode for the center of the street or block. If you'd like to learn more about rooftop geocoding you can learn so here.
FAQs and additional features
- Is there a limit to how many addresses you can check in Excel?
- The plugin is only limited by Excel's capacity and the user's Smarty subscription.
- Does the add-in work on the mobile version of Excel?
- No, currently add-ins are not supported in the mobile version of Excel, but the plugin works with Excel for the web.
- Can I check international addresses with the add-in?
- No, it only works with US addresses for now. We're looking into expanding.
The Excel plugin offers the same quality results as Smarty's APIs. It's free to download and can be used with any existing Smarty US subscription or free trial. Visit smarty.com/signup to create a free account and get started with 1,000 free lookups. And if you are looking for more information on batch geocoding with Smarty's new Excel plugin read our in-depth article.
You can watch the full webinar recording for more information.
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