I created a test petition to exercise the petition feature, but even though NB seems to recognize the addresses I enter (because of its ability to map them out with Google maps), it does not include the field detail in the .csv file. In fact, all it provides is name, date, and state/province info. I really need the street address and postal code too, if the signer has provided it. How can I get the full address info for signers of my petition.
Also, related, when I get the address info in my .csv, can I have it fielded. I know that by default NB collects address info in a freeform text box, and I get the feeling that NB can successfully parse the info. It would be much more useful to me to see my petition signers with the address info fielded, vs. all the address info dumped into one single freeform field.
Thanks,
Tom
The petition export is intended to provide a basic summary of signers. Since NationBuilder allows you to automatically tag all signers of a petition, you can click on the corresponding tag to pull up all of the people that signed. Then, you can add the people to a list and export the list to .csv with complete contact records. By default, this export will have the addresses fielded.
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1. STEP BY STEP: I did the CSV export thing because the PDF default fields (name & state/province) are not suitable for me.
a. It doesn’t appear that you need to add a tag to the petition anymore; fortunately, the export settings for the petition (Petition settings> Signatures> ‘Displaying all signatures’) allow you to create a new list from the batch of signers, THEN export it. To add the signatures to a list: click on the ‘+’ button above ‘Displaying all signatures’. At the bottom of the box that opens is a greyed option called ‘+ Create list’. Click on that and give your list a name, i.e. p1501 (Petition, year 2015, petition #1). Click ‘Create.’ Now you have a list you can add all the signatures to.
c. To get the list: go to People> Lists> [list name, i.e. p1501]. Click on the list name to bring up a page with the records for each person who signed. Click ‘Export’> Start export. Save the file and open it. It will open with Excel.
d. If you’re using Open Office, you’ll see a dialogue box when you try to open the file. Under ‘Separator options’ make sure the ‘Separated by’ button is checked, and unselect all other options except ‘Comma’. Otherwise, fields will run together.
That was the easy part.
e. The next issue to overcome is that your CSV spreadsheet includes dozens of fields that you must manually remove. OK, it’s not perfect, but it’s a doable workaround. Delete each column you don’t want.
f. But…getting the fields whittled down isn’t hard part; the hard part is trying to get Excel to simply put a number beside each name in sequence. Easy if you have 100 names to number; not so easy if it’s 20,000. Try doing it! I wasted hours Googling & trying solutions to what should be a very simple thing to accomplish in Excel.
2. UPGRADE SUGGESTION: The end use of a petition (i.e. delivering it to a political/business leader) is important; signers expect it to be delivered, so it would be nice to see that work properly. May I suggest:
a. create a simple checklist of common fields in the dashboard where we could select the fields we want. (name, email, postal code, country works for me). These would apply for PDF and/or CSV as needed. ensure that the CSV list has a field with signatures numbered in sequence at time of export. PDF already is numbered.)