The latest articles on DEV Community by Snapnote (@snapnote). https://dev.to/snapnote https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4232288%2F7e73cb81-45b5-4caa-8c89-e7e87780ea15.png https://dev.to/snapnote en Snapnote Sat, 07 Nov 2026 15:36:04 +0000 https://dev.to/snapnote/how-i-clean-a-messy-contact-list-with-ai-a-real-example-2ahl https://dev.to/snapnote/how-i-clean-a-messy-contact-list-with-ai-a-real-example-2ahl <p>A client sent me a "contact list" like this:<br> </p> <div class="highlight js-code-highlight"> <pre class="highlight plaintext"><code>张三 13800138000 北京市朝阳区建国路88号 李四 139 0013 9000 上海市浦东新区 张三 13800138000 北京朝阳区建国路88号 王五 电话未知 广州市天河区 李四 13900139000 上海浦东 </code></pre> </div> <p>Duplicate rows, inconsistent phone formats, and one entry with a missing phone number.</p> <p>I pasted it into Snapnote (the tool I built) in <strong>data cleaning</strong> mode. Here is what came back:</p> <div class="table-wrapper-paragraph"><table> <thead> <tr> <th>Name</th> <th>Phone</th> <th>Address</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td>张三</td> <td>138-0013-8000</td> <td>北京市朝阳区建国路88号</td> </tr> <tr> <td>李四</td> <td>139-0013-9000</td> <td>上海市浦东新区</td> </tr> <tr> <td>王五</td> <td>(unknown)</td> <td>广州市天河区</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></div> <p>Plus two sections I did not expect to care about, but now do:</p> <p><strong>What changed</strong></p> <ul> <li>1 duplicate removed</li> <li>phone numbers normalized to 1xx-xxxx-xxxx</li> <li>two 李四 records merged (different phone formats, same person)</li> </ul> <p><strong>Needs human review</strong></p> <ul> <li>王五 has no phone number</li> <li>李四 had two address variants</li> </ul> <p>The important part for me: it <strong>did not invent</strong> the missing phone. Missing stayed missing, and it told me so.</p> <p>That is the whole idea — messy in, clean out, plus an honest report of what it could not fix.</p> <p>Try it: <a href="https://getsnapnote.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://getsnapnote.com</a></p> webdev Snapnote Sat, 07 Nov 2026 14:36:53 +0000 https://dev.to/snapnote/i-built-snapnote-turn-messy-lists-and-notes-into-clean-structured-tables-297 https://dev.to/snapnote/i-built-snapnote-turn-messy-lists-and-notes-into-clean-structured-tables-297 <p>I kept getting messy data from clients — half-formatted contact lists, notes scattered across formats, duplicate entries. So I built Snapnote.</p> <p><strong>What it does:</strong> paste messy input, pick a mode, get clean structured output.</p> <p>The one I use most is <strong>data cleaning</strong>:</p> <ul> <li>inconsistent phone formats → normalized</li> <li>duplicate records → merged</li> <li>missing fields → flagged, never invented</li> <li>output: a Markdown table + a "what changed" summary + a "needs human review" list</li> </ul> <p>It also has 7 other modes: meeting notes, interview notes, lecture notes, brainstorm, translate, summary, and business-idea validation.</p> <p><strong>Two things I cared about:</strong></p> <ol> <li> <strong>No meeting bot.</strong> It is paste-and-speak, not a bot that joins your calls.</li> <li><strong>No training on your data.</strong></li> </ol> <p>Built with a small Node server + an LLM API. Free tier: 2 notes/day, Pro is $19/mo.</p> <p>Try it: <a href="https://getsnapnote.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://getsnapnote.com</a></p> <p>Happy to hear feedback on the data-cleaning mode especially.</p> showdev webdev