Phone number checks and cleanup

Updated Markdown

The Analyze panel checks the phone column you already have for formatting problems and numbers that are probably not real. It doesn't look up new phone numbers — for finding a company phone or a personal mobile number you don't have yet, see "Find phone and mobile numbers."

The phone checks#

All of these are free, deterministic (rule-based) checks that run automatically the first time you open Analyze, and each only runs if your list has a detected phone column:

  • Missing Country Code — the number doesn't start with + or 00.
  • Phone Too Short — fewer than 7 digits.
  • Phone Too Long — more than 15 digits.
  • Letters in Phone — the value contains letters, not just digits and formatting characters; extensions and notes such as (mobil) are not counted.
  • Fake Phone Pattern — the subscriber number (country code and leading 0 not counted) is all one digit (like 111 111 1111) or one straight sequence (like 234 567 8901), which almost never happens in a real phone number.
  • Placeholder Phone — the cell holds n/a, -, ?, 0 or keine instead of a number.
  • Phone Has Extension — the value includes an extension (ext., x123, Durchwahl 12) that will likely be rejected by dialing tools.

Two of these offer a Fix: Missing Country Code adds the dial code when your list has a country column, and Phone Too Long keeps the first number when two were put in one cell. The others flag the rows so you can review and correct them by hand, or replace the number with a verified one through enrichment. Duplicate phone numbers are a separate check, covered in "Finding and merging duplicates."

Clean Phone Numbers (free)#

Clean Phone Numbers, in the Enrich menu's free local section, is a free formatting tool — it doesn't look anything up. It opens a preview where you choose the Target Format (E.164, the default — for example +49301234567 — International or National), set a default country for numbers without a + (or use your country column), and optionally Clear invalid numbers, then click Apply to N numbers; the changes are saved automatically (⌘Z / Ctrl+Z undoes them as one step). It never adds a number that isn't already there — running it can resolve the Missing Country Code check when you set a default country or country column, but it won't fix a number that's genuinely too short, too long or fake, since those need a real, verified number from enrichment instead. See "Find phone and mobile numbers" for the full steps and where the button lives.

Related topics: quality-checks-overview · fixing-issues · duplicates · find-phone-and-mobile · email-quality-and-bounces.

FAQ#

What phone number checks does ListPlus run?#

Missing Country Code, Phone Too Short, Phone Too Long, Letters in Phone, Fake Phone Pattern (repeated or sequential digits), Placeholder Phone, and Phone Has Extension. They're all free, rule-based checks in the Analyze panel (under All checks, or type the check name in the Analyze search; Fake Phone Pattern also appears under Send-ready), and only run if your list has a phone column.

Can I fix a bad phone number automatically?#

Only where the right value is obvious: Missing Country Code adds the dial code from your country column, and Phone Too Long keeps the first of two numbers in one cell. A "too short" or "fake" number usually needs a real replacement value, so those checks only flag the rows. Use Clean Phone Numbers to fix formatting issues for free, or look up a verified number through enrichment for numbers that are genuinely wrong or missing.

What does Clean Phone Numbers do?#

In the Enrich menu (free local section), Clean Phone Numbers opens a preview: choose the Target Format — E.164 (default, +49301234567), International or National — set a default country for numbers without + (or use your country column), and optionally Clear invalid numbers, then click Apply to N numbers. The changes are saved automatically, and ⌘Z / Ctrl+Z undoes them as one step. The item only appears when your phone column has numbers that need cleaning.

Will Clean Phone Numbers find a phone number I don't have?#

No — it only reformats existing values; it never adds a number for a row that's empty. To find a new phone number, see "Find phone and mobile numbers," which covers the company switchboard and personal mobile lookups (paid, only charged on a hit).

Why does a number get flagged as "fake"?#

The Fake Phone Pattern check looks at the subscriber number only (the country code and a leading 0 are not counted) and flags it when it is all one digit (like 111 111 1111) or one straight ascending or descending sequence (like 234 567 8901) — patterns real phone numbers essentially never have, often left over from test data. A standard layout like +41 44 123 45 67 passes.

Are duplicate phone numbers caught here too?#

Duplicate phone numbers are a separate check, Duplicate Phone, covered in "Finding and merging duplicates" along with how the merge and formatting-insensitive matching (+49… vs 0049…) work.

Do the phone checks work without a detected phone column?#

No — each phone check only runs if ListPlus has recognized a column in your list as the phone column. If your phone numbers aren't being checked, confirm the column's type under Set up → Columns in the list (Content Type).