In a database, "normalized" data has been associated with data
identifiers that are used to link it to other database records. For
instance, if you had an account with an online retailer, they would
link your account number (an identifier unique to you) to your name /
address / phone data, and link the account number with your purchases.
So if you bought an item that later was recalled for some reason, they
could write a query that creates a name and address list of all the
people that bought that item.

I am not familiar with XML, but it sounds like you modified the data
in such a way that unique identifiers were dis-associated from their
data records. You *may* be able to work arouund this by saving the
file in an Excel format rather than in an XML format; or you might
save the file in comma separated value (CSV) format and re-import it
into Excel.

Good luck with it! Happy ChrismaHonnaKwanzaaka!

Dave O
Eschew obfuscation