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# Read a text Explore Card and find messy values

> Read a Mammoth text Explore Card: distinct values with counts and shares, donut and treemap views, Show Whitespaces, and how to spot and fix spelling variants.
>
> Applies to: Roles: The transformation shortcuts need edit access to the View. Where: View › Explore › Add card › a text column

A text card lists the distinct values in a column, most frequent first, with a bar behind each value. Spelling variants, case variants, extra spaces and blanks each appear as their own row, so you see them at once. Add one with **Add card** in the Explore panel; the shortcuts that fix values need edit access to the View.

![Text Explore Card for city listing each value with a bar, its count and its percentage, with Select all, search and sort controls, the layout and Count menus, and the hint Click to select, double-click to filter](https://mammoth.io/docs/images/20261009_194257_TextExploreCard.webp)

## What a text card shows

| Part | What it shows |
| --- | --- |
| Header | The column name and the number of unique values, for example `product_name 9 unique values` |
| Rows | One per value, most to least frequent by default |
| Bar | Sized relative to the largest share in the list |
| Count and percentage | For example `20` and `20%`. The percentage is rounded to a whole number and shows `<1%` for very small shares. It appears only while the card shows Count |
| Blanks | A `(blank)` row with its own count and share |

Above the list are **Select all**, **Invert**, **Search values** and **Sort by**. Drag a card's edge to widen it when value names are cut off, or hover a truncated value to see it in full.

![city text card with the Count menu open, showing Show values by COUNT, Formatting buttons, a Short Form checkbox, and Cancel and Apply buttons](https://mammoth.io/docs/images/20261009_194321_TextCardCountMenu.webp)

## Switch a text card to a donut or treemap

Use the chart type dropdown: List (default), Donut or Treemap. Donut and Treemap show each value's share of the total, so they are available only when **Show values by** is Count or Sum.

## Select values on a text card

Click a value to select it: a checkbox marks it, and a bar shows the number selected with **Filter** and **Exclude**. A plain click toggles a value. Hold **Shift** to select a run from the last value you clicked. **Select all** selects every value, and **Invert** flips the selection. Double-click a value to filter to it right away. Click **Clear selection**, or press **Esc**, to deselect.

## Find extra spaces with Show Whitespaces

In list view, tick **Show Whitespaces** at the top of the **More options** menu. Space characters become visible, with extra spaces emphasized, so "Company" and " Company" are clearly different.

![city text card with the More options menu open, listing a Show Whitespaces checkbox, Add to dashboard, Copy values to clipboard and Export list as CSV](https://mammoth.io/docs/images/20261009_194348_TextCardMoreOptions.webp)

## Text quality problems a card reveals

| Problem | What you see | Fix |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Spelling variants | "Service", "Services", "service" as separate rows | Bulk Replace to one value |
| Formatting variants | "B&Q", "B & Q", "B and Q" | Bulk Replace |
| Case variants | "Travel", "travel", "TRAVEL", each with its own count and percentage | Bulk Replace to one value |
| Extra spaces | " Company" apart from "Company" | Turn on **Show Whitespaces** to see the spaces |
| Missing data | A `(blank)` row with its count and share | Read the share to judge completeness |

The percentages show how widespread each variant is, and which one is dominant and should become the standard.

**Worked example:** a supplier_name card shows "B&Q" 45 (41%), "B & Q" 23 (21%), "B and Q" 18 (16%), "B&Q Ltd" 14 (13%) and "B&Q Limited" 10 (9%). Select the variants, choose **Replace all values like this**, and map them all to "B&Q". A single Bulk Replace task standardized all 863 records, so supplier spend reports add up.

![supplier_name card listing five spellings of B&Q with counts, such as B&Q 45 and B and Q 18](https://mammoth.io/docs/images/20260408_101901_BQ_supplier_name_text_card1.webp)

Other patterns look the same: "Electronic Widget A" 20%, "Electronic Widget-A" 15%, "Elect Widget A" 8%; or "Ad hoc" 52%, "ad-hoc" 26%, "adhoc" 13%, "Ad Hoc" 7%. Consolidate each with Bulk Replace.

![category text card with inconsistent casing (smartphones, SMARTPHONES) above a Bulk Replace panel that groups the variants](https://mammoth.io/docs/images/20260408_104833_Side-by-sidecomparison_textcardwithmessy.webp)

## Troubleshooting text cards

| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Text card is empty or unexpected | The column is entirely null, or isn't typed as text | Check the column type; refresh the View if data was recently updated |
| Too many text values to read | High-cardinality column | Values load in frequency order as you scroll. Use **Search values**, or group values with a transformation |
| Text percentages don't add up to 100% | Percentages are rounded to whole numbers, and are relative to the rows the card counts | Check for a filter on an earlier card (filter icon in the header); scroll to load lower-frequency values |

## Related

- [Text, number and date cards](https://mammoth.io/docs/learn/explore/card-types/): Show values by, sorting and the More options menu.
- [Find and replace values](https://mammoth.io/docs/learn/clean-and-shape/find-and-replace/): the Bulk Replace task a text card opens.
- [Data quality report](https://mammoth.io/docs/learn/explore/data-quality/): a scored check of the whole View.

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Source: https://mammoth.io/docs/learn/explore/text-cards.md · Updated: 2026-11-08