Compare string with records in table (query?)

[MajP]

In some cases you get lots of variations in the Like Authors
frmLikeAuthors frmLikeAuthors

Last Name	First Name	Middle Name	Suffix	Extracted Name
Hans-Peter	Hartung			Hans-Peter, Hartung
Hartung	H	P		Hartung, H. P.
Hartung	HP			Hartung, HP
Hartung	H-P			Hartung, H-P
Hartung	T			H. B. Hartung, T

So likely I would first clean up one of these to be
Hartung, Hans Peter
Then reassign all of these publications to that author. The easiest is to select that author once. Copy that id. Go to the other authors and Paste into the linked publications.
Once you get the hang of it, you can clean up real fast.

 

[Noruen]

@MajP sorry for my silence, I have shitstorm in the job so I will get to your improvements hopefully soon. Please do not take it as disrespect to your help...

 

[MajP]

No problem. I think it is almost a complete solution. It could use some more features but you can use it now and have the data clean in a half hour.