If you have previously downloaded the JRI-Poland NameFinder, please replace it with the latest version (4.9) to get new features. [August 3, 2017]

Overview

This macro-type tool will enable you to more effectively search Microsoft Excel files for strings of text that are of interest, principally surnames.

Features

Highlights in unique colors every cell where the string(s) of text you are searching occur and adds a new column with an indicator that can then be used for either moving rapidly through the file, or sorting, based on occurrences of the text.

Identifies any sequence (location) of text or numbers, and utilizes Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex to identify surnames, given names and town names.

When the file is a typical Jewish Records Indexing - Poland vital records file, the search can be restricted to only those columns that typically contain the type of names of interest, eliminating false positives in other columns of the worksheet.

When the file is a typical Jewish Records Indexing - Poland vital records file, any Bann, Marriage or Divorce record result (where there are two rows for the event) will identify the rows of both the husband and the wife.

When the file is a Jewish Records Indexing - Poland Book of Residents or Census file, all members of a family group can be identified, even when the surnames are different.

Any of the Replace, Merge, Sort, Filter or Autosize operations can be applied either at the same time as searching or as a secondary organization step applied afterwards.

The tool works with Microsoft Excel on both Macintosh and Windows. Note that due to limitations in the Microsoft implementation on the Mac this tool will not run at all in the 2008 version of Excel for Mac because Microsoft did not include support for Visual Basic programs in that version. It will work with the 2011 version of Excel for Mac, but some extended characters will not match correctly due to Microsoft's failure to implement the support for Add-in applications to access their values.

Download the NameFinder Add-in and instructions:

English version                                              Polish version