1 June 2025

That one time an Excel workflow turned into a web app

In my previous role, Excel was the default tool for everything — data analysis, reporting, formatting, even quick fixes to clean up inputs before sending them somewhere else. And while Excel is powerful, there were a few repetitive tasks that had me thinking, “Surely there's a better way to do this.”

So when I started learning web development, one of my early experiments was turning one of those small Excel workflows into a simple web app.

The problem

I needed to reformat a list of Jira issue keys to paste into a bulk update window — specifically, wrapping each issue key in quotes and separating them by commas. Think:

PCSPPA-123
PCSPPA-456
PCSPPA-789
Turning into:
"PCSPPA-123", "PCSPPA-456", "PCSPPA-789"
In Excel, I had a formula that did this with a few helper columns and some careful copying. But it was fiddly, especially if you weren't the one who set it up in the first place.

The solution

I built a tiny web tool in JavaScript that let me paste a list of issue keys into a textarea and instantly returned the formatted result. It even auto-copied the output to the clipboard. No dependencies, no backend, just a clean, focused little app that did one thing really well.

What I learned

  • I got practice thinking through the logic used to handle arrays and text in JS functions
  • I learned how to handle user input and display dynamic output
  • I had to think through all the edge cases that come with allowing free text input
  • I experienced firsthand how front-end tools can replace (and improve) real-world workflows
Most importantly, it gave me a clear example of how development skills can make day-to-day work faster and easier — even for tasks that seem small.

The takeaway

If you're learning to code, look for those little pain points in your current workflow. Solving them might not only save you time, but also give you a great portfolio project — one with a real use case and a story behind it.
If you want to check out the end result, visit davedonnellydev.github.io/concats/.