Alright, folks. Let’s get into something that may sound as exciting as watching the paint dry, but has a wealth of usefulness–UK postcode list excel. Why would you need to do this? This is more useful for camping than a Swiss Army Knife.
Imagine you are working on an assignment that requires mapping out the routes of delivery across the UK. You have to find out which postcodes correspond to certain areas. Perhaps you are in marketing and have to segment your target audience by location. Having an Excel list with UK postcodes is your secret tool.
We’ll start off by discussing where you can obtain these lists. Google offers several options. Some are free, others cost money. If you are working on a small project or for your personal use, a free version might work well. However, if you have to deal with large data sets or require pinpoint accuracy, a paid option could be worth it.
Excel is the next step. Importing data is easy. Select your file under File >Open and click on it. Excel is very adept at handling CSV files.
This is the fun part: organizing all this valuable information. Sort thousands of rows faster with filters. You can apply filters to specific entries, such as postcodes in London that start with the letter ‘E.
This is where conditional formatting comes in handy. Want to highlight every postcode within a range? Excel does the work for you. It’s like a personal assistant who doesn’t complain about overtime.
But wait! There’s more! Another great tool to use when working with lengthy postcode lists is pivot tables. They let you summarize data easily. Want to know exactly how many addresses are in each postal district? The pivot table can give you this information faster than you’ll be able to say “postcode.”
This might sound great, but what happens if you mess up? We’ve probably all thought the same thing as we stared at an erroneous message and wondered where everything went wrong. Save versions often to be able to go backwards if you need.
VLOOKUPs, HLOOKUPs, and other functions are not to be forgotten. These functions act as GPS for your data. They allow you to quickly find information within large datasets.
The list of postcodes can be updated over time to reflect new developments, administrative changes and other factors.
Imagine this: You are presenting findings at your workplace and someone asks you about the reliability your data source. Boom! You are able to extract details from the meticulously organized Excel sheet that you have carefully (but not precisely) curated.
If you love automating (and who doesn’t? Use macros (Visual Basic for Applications), or VBA if you’re a fan of automation. Automating repetitive work can save hours of time while reducing errors.
Python’s Pandas tool offers more functionality than Excel natively provides.
Sharing is caring. Once you have made your list usable for mere mortals and polished it, make it available to all who need it.
This is a quick crash course to help you get the best out of UK Postcode Lists in Excel, while avoiding getting lost in the columns (or weeds). Happy spreadsheeting!