TenMil.aiMerge your files

Phrasebook

What to type, and what happens.

Plain-English phrases that work in TenMil's chat, with the exact result each one produces — and the gotchas worth knowing.

Match two filesKeep or remove rowsRemove duplicatesSort rowsFix IDsWon't do

How to match two files

Line up two files on a shared column, and decide which rows to keep.

  • match these files on email
    Works

    Joins the two files on the email column and keeps every row from your first file.

    Watch out: Matching ignores capitals and extra spaces. It also ignores +tags, and dots in Gmail addresses.

    Before

    email (file A)email (file B)plan (file B)
    jake@acme.comjake@acme.comPro
    Maria@Shop.commaria@shop.comFree
    lee@site.com  

    After

    emailplan
    jake@acme.comPro
    Maria@Shop.comFree
    lee@site.com 

    File A has 3 rows. File B has 2 of them plus a plan column. Every row from A is kept.

  • only keep rows that match in both files
    Works

    Joins the files and keeps only rows found in both.

    Watch out: Rows with a blank key are dropped.

Last verified: 16 September 2026

How to keep or remove rows

Narrow the result down to the rows you actually want.

  • only keep Boston
    Works

    Keeps rows where city equals Boston.

    Watch out: Ignores capitals and extra spaces, so "BOSTON " matches too.

    Before

    city
    Boston
    boston
    Denver
    BOSTON

    After

    city
    Boston
    boston
    BOSTON

    Four rows in, three kept.

  • remove rows where email is blank
    Works

    Keeps rows that have an email.

    Watch out: Cells containing only spaces count as blank.

  • amount between 100 and 500
    Workaround

    Adds two conditions: amount is at least 100 AND at most 500.

    Watch out: There's no "between" operator, so it's handled as two conditions.

  • orders after January 2024
    Not supported

    Not reliable.

    Watch out: Dates are compared as text, so date filters can give wrong results.

Last verified: 16 September 2026

How to remove duplicates

Collapse repeated rows and choose which copy survives.

  • remove duplicate emails
    Works

    Removes rows with a repeated email and keeps the first one.

    Watch out: "First" means the current row order. Sort first if order matters.

  • keep the most recent row for each email
    Works

    Removes duplicate emails and keeps the row with the latest date.

    Watch out: Needs a date or number column to decide which row is most recent.

Last verified: 16 September 2026

How to sort rows

Put the result in the order you want before exporting.

  • sort by amount, highest first
    Works

    Sorts rows by amount, descending.

    Watch out: Numbers sort as numbers and dates sort by date. Blanks go last.

Last verified: 16 September 2026

How to fix IDs and leading zeros

Restore the leading zeros that spreadsheets tend to eat.

  • pad zip codes to 5 digits
    Works

    Adds leading zeros so every zip code is 5 characters (e.g. 2134 → 02134).

    Watch out: This is the only action that changes values in your data.

    Before

    zip
    2134
    90210
    501

    After

    zip
    02134
    90210
    00501

    Zip codes restored to five characters.

Last verified: 16 September 2026

Things TenMil won't do (and what to do instead)

Requests TenMil turns down, with the route that does work.

  • rename email to Email
    Not supported

    TenMil won't rename columns in chat.

    Do this instead: Use the Output Columns panel to rename, hide, or reorder columns before exporting.

  • merge in a third file
    Not supported

    Only two files can be merged at a time.

    Do this instead: Merge two files, export the result, then merge that export with the third file.

Last verified: 16 September 2026

Try it with your own files

Drop two spreadsheets in and type one of these phrases.

Open TenMil