{"id":"sheet-sb-clean-phone-number-column","audience":"small-business","category":"spreadsheets","track":"data","technique":"constraints","title":"Plan the cleanup of a messy phone number column","free":false,"task":"You're importing your salon's client list into a texting tool that only accepts 10 digits with no symbols, like 6145550142. Ask for exactly 5 numbered cleanup steps, each one plain sentence: work in a new column so the originals stay, and flag (don't delete or guess) any row that doesn't end with exactly 10 digits. Plain text, under 110 words.","materialLabel":"Your client list's phone column (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"Client list - column C \"Phone\" (first 12 of 380 rows)\n\nRow | Name | Phone\n2 | Tasha Bell | (614) 555-0142\n3 | Ron Ames | 614.555.0187\n4 | Gloria Fenn | +1 614 555 0123\n5 | Wes Hart | 1-614-555-0166\n6 | Ana Ruiz | 6145550191\n7 | Dev Kapoor | 614 555 0110 ext 12\n8 | Lin Park | 555-0199\n9 | Joy Okafor | call front desk\n10 | Matt Quill | 614-555-0175\n11 | Sue Dorn | (614)555-0138\n12 | Bea Long | 614-555-0153\n13 | Kurt Ivey | 614 555 0129\n\nNotes:\n- Some cells have extra spaces at the end\n- About 20 rows have \"ext\" numbers (work phones)\n- The texting tool rejects the whole import file if any row is bad","rules":[{"type":"numberedItems","count":5},{"type":"maxWords","max":110},{"type":"plainText"}],"mistakes":[{"title":"Editing the original column","why":"The AI rewrites the column in place, so you can't check its work.","fix":"Add: \"Work in a new column; keep the originals.\"","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"Not giving the target format","why":"The AI picks a nice-looking format like (614) 555-0142, which the tool rejects.","fix":"Add: \"Final format is 10 digits, no symbols, like 6145550142.\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"Letting the AI guess","why":"The AI adds an area code to short numbers or deletes rows it can't fix.","fix":"Add: \"Flag any row without exactly 10 digits. Don't delete or guess.\"","checks":["r2"]},{"title":"Getting a formula essay","why":"The AI writes long nested formulas with explanations.","fix":"Say: \"Exactly 5 numbered steps, each one plain sentence.\"","checks":["numberedItems","maxWords"]},{"title":"Getting markdown back","why":"AI bolds step names and adds headings.","fix":"Ask for \"plain text, no bold.\"","checks":["plainText"]}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Keeps the originals","patterns":["new column","copy","keep (the )?original"]},{"label":"Gives the target format","patterns":["10 digits","6145550142","no symbols"]},{"label":"Says to flag, not guess","patterns":["flag","don'?t (delete|guess)","follow.?up"]},{"label":"Sets the number of steps","patterns":["\\b(5|five)\\b.{0,20}steps","exactly \\d+"]},{"label":"Asks for plain text","patterns":["plain","no bold","no markdown"]}],"hint":"Say what the finished numbers must look like and what to do with the ones that can't be fixed, or the AI will quietly guess.","rubricLabels":["One of the steps (ideally the first) says to work in a new or copied column so the original phone column stays unchanged","The steps remove symbols and spaces, drop any leading country code 1 or +1, and drop extensions like \"ext 12\" so numbers end as 10 digits","A step says to flag rows that don't end with exactly 10 digits for follow-up (like row 8, 555-0199, and row 9, call front desk) instead of deleting or guessing them"]}