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MasterOfMyDomai's avatar
MasterOfMyDomai
New Contributor

Call History download puts name & number in one column

When downloading the call history in a .csv format (spreadsheet), the caller name and phone number are lumped together in one field (column) with the name listed first.  I want to sort it by phone number but cannot do it because this column sorts by name.  When a caller is added to the address book, the phone number is in a field all by itself.  Why can't the .csv file be formatted this way?  It would also be nice if the first and last names were in separate filelds too, as follows:

Call Type   First Name  Last Name   Phone Number  Time           Date

------------    ---------------   ---------------   ---------------------   ------------   -------------

Missed       Angie            Dickenson   (555) 555-5555   7:25 pm    4/29/2017

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  • Bruce's avatar
    Bruce
    Honored Contributor III

    At least you can download a file.  I click Download...select Download as CSV...click Download Call History...and nothing happens.  Until Cox uses your suggestions, you could make a spreadsheet to separate the data...and just import the .csv file to it.

    Or you could insert a column to the .csv file (perhaps after the "one field") and enter a formula to extract the number.  For example:  =MID($A1,SEARCH("(",$A1,1),20).  Just keep the formula handy on your desktop somewhere for future downloads...perhaps in a text document.

    Of course, the formula above is just the core output (extracting the number), so you'd have to modify it to ignore empty cells and non-numbers.

    Angie Dickenson...sweet!

  • MasterOfMyDomai's avatar
    MasterOfMyDomai
    New Contributor

    Angie Dickenson was my babysitter in the mid 1940s.  I was too young to remember, darnit.

    Thanks for the tip about extracting the existing data.  I know it can be done, but since the phone number starts in a different place on each entry I need to figure out how to search for the first parentheses of the phone number.  I'm just too old and tired to work that hard and then do it every month.  I can't believe the professional programmers at Cox made this so difficult when they already have the data in separate fields.  

    Regarding your problem getting the download to work, I set my browser (Firefox) to always download to C:\Downloads so I can find it.  From there I move it to its final resting place.  Have you done a search of your hard drive?  The file name is Callhistory_5555555555.csv (or pdf).  Good luck.

  • Bruce's avatar
    Bruce
    Honored Contributor III

    I have Firefox as well but it won't download.  Even the Download icon (arrow) won't animate a download.

    That Excel formula automatically finds the start of the phone number and extracts it for you.  You only need to insert a column, enter the formula then drag-to-copy.  I can modify it to prevent any errors with non-numbers, such as Private and Unavailable calls.

    Because it's a database generating the report and extracting to a .csv, some non-printable characters may also get appended to the data, such as spaces and field breaks.  I'd need a complete sample from a Name/Number field.  Perhaps a recent spam call.

    A babysitting Angie Dickenson...sweet, sweet!

  • MasterOfMyDomai's avatar
    MasterOfMyDomai
    New Contributor

    I got this to work:

    =MID(B2,FIND("(",B2),14)

    Thanks for your help in motivating me to get this done and pointing me in the right direction.  Now, back to daydreaming about Angie Dickenson.

    I still hope Cox fixes it on their end.  They should be embarassed.

  • Bruce's avatar
    Bruce
    Honored Contributor III

    I'm trying to share a file with you, but, of course, the Cox Cloud Drive is denying me:  "At this time we are not activating new Cloud Drive customers."  That's what I deserve after being a customer for 20 years.

    -----

    Since I can't download the Cox csv file, I don't know what it looks like.  However, I'm glad you provided the cell references for your data, B2, because I've created a couple formulas to separate the names and numbers.

    I put the formulas in a text file.  After you open your Call History, you import the formulas from the text file and...voila!...everything is done.  No copying-and-pasting or dragging-and-copying.  It's faster.  Do you know how to import data?  It's easy.

    1.  Download the text file to an easy-to-find location.
    2.  Open your Call History
    3.  Click the first cell of any empty column (E1, F1, G1, etc)
    4.  Click the Data Tab or Data Menu
    5.  Locate the Get External Data group
    6.  Select the From Text button
    7.  Navigate to the text file

    Text Import Wizard
    Step 1-of-3.  Choose Delimited.  Click Next
    Step 2-of-3.  Under Delimiters, only choose Tab.  Click Next
    Step 3-of-3.  Under Column Data Format, choose General.  Click Finish

    8.  In the Import Data dialog box, click OK

    The column header, Times Called, is actually a hyperlink to select all your data for sorting.

  • BrianM's avatar
    BrianM
    Moderator

    Bruce, I removed your email address from the post as we do not allow personal information to be posted. You can use the notification tool by clicking on his name.

    Brian
    Cox Support Forums Moderator

  • Bruce's avatar
    Bruce
    Honored Contributor III

    I understand not posting personal information, but it's a Disposable Address.  Meaning, after we're done with it, I can delete it within my Yahoo account.

    I don't know what to do with the Notification Tool.  Please explain.