Preparing your telephone numbers

Preparing your telephone numbers

There are a few simple steps for preparing your telephone numbers for TPS checking.

If you need any help to ensure that your telephone numbers are formatted correctly, please contact us.

For list checks, all your records are returned to you in the same sequence as you supplied them, with TPS and CTPS flags appended. None of your data is removed, including blank records with no telephone number.

Please Remove:

• Telephone extension numbers e.g. x4536 or other numbers that are not part of the main telephone number
• Multiple telephone numbers in the same record. The checker cannot screen multiple numbers in the same field e.g. 07802861197/01451860805
• Database control characters. If any of these characters are imbedded in your file it is unlikely that you will get an accurate result. Please remove carriage returns or blank spaces after the last telephone number digit before uploading your file. If you need help with this please contact us.

Your telephone number file should:

• Place your telephone numbers in field/column 1. If you would prefer to include your numbers in another field, please contact us.
• Be in a plain text format , either .csv or .txt. The easiest way to do this is from MS Excel. When you have prepared your numbers, click on ‘File’, then ‘Save As’, click on ‘Save As Type’ and then select ‘CSV’ (*.csv) below the file name you have entered before clicking ‘Save’. The checker will still work properly if you include one or more of the following:
  • international dialling codes e.g. +44 or 0044
  • non-numeric characters e.g. brackets, hyphens etc.
  • telephone numbers with or without a leading zero e.g. 01451 860105 or 1451860805 and with or without spaces, or a combination of the two.
  • blank fields i.e. records with no phone number. A credit will not be deducted for these records.
• Be a maximum of 4 Megabytes. If your file is larger you can split it up or contact us for help.