RE: No "Business Street 2" Field

I don't know about getting the import directly to BCM working, but importing to Contacts then moving to BCM is really not that big of a deal. I do it all the time. Once you get them all into Contacts (or, a convenient subfolder) you just drag and drop them to Business Contacts. I guess the only way that wouldn't work well is if you are also trying to import into some of the custom BCM fields...

John

"Toni Carlson" wrote:

> Instead of having the same address fields as Contacts, BCM is different - and lacking apparently. I have tons of contacts to import into BCM from Excel and this will be an ongoing procedure. I cannot map a second address line (like a suite number) to BCM since it only has one street address field. The only way I can make this work so far, is to import them first into Contacts and then move them over to BCM. This seems unnecessary and time consuming. Any ideas? Excel doesn't really support line breaks in a cell, and if you concatenate the 2 address fields with a comma between then they come out all on one line in BCM. I want them as 2 distinct address lines.

Why go thru 2 steps? They aren't going to remain in Contacts. And since I'm dealing with a large number of imports every time, it is time consuming to do. This is for a local political campaign so we're importing hundreds of contacts at a time. Just selecting them all to drag and drop them into BCM is slow. And it is a little difficult to explain why the user needs to do this where there really is no good reason. It is one field - why leave it out? We thought we'd give BCM a try since it came with the version of Office we purchased but it is becoming more hassle than it is worth.

"JohnC" wrote:

> I don't know about getting the import directly to BCM working, but importing to Contacts then moving to BCM is really not that big of a deal. I do it all the time. Once you get them all into Contacts (or, a convenient subfolder) you just drag and drop them to Business Contacts. I guess the only way that wouldn't work well is if you are also trying to import into some of the custom BCM fields...
>
> John
>
> "Toni Carlson" wrote:
>
> > Instead of having the same address fields as Contacts, BCM is different - and lacking apparently. I have tons of contacts to import into BCM from Excel and this will be an ongoing procedure. I cannot map a second address line (like a suite number) to BCM since it only has one street address field. The only way I can make this work so far, is to import them first into Contacts and then move them over to BCM. This seems unnecessary and time consuming. Any ideas? Excel doesn't really support line breaks in a cell, and if you concatenate the 2 address fields with a comma between then they come out all on one line in BCM. I want them as 2 distinct address lines.

Toni:

Maybe I should find out what party you're working for before I offer to help any more ;-)

Why go thru 2 steps? - because it works! I don't have BCM installed on my machine here at home, so I can't play with importing. I'll just assume that you are right and there is no way to import to "Business Street 2". If so, it is a bug that the nice folks at MS will hopefully rectify at some undetermined point in the future. For me, I still feel that it is a relatively trivial additional step - import to a suitable Contacts subfolder, control-A, then drag-and-drop on the BCM Contacts folder. I agree, if it is not just for you but a procedure for many other people to use that it makes it a little harder and subject to errors.

Perhaps you could tell us what you are planning to do with the contacts once imported. Mail merges, log phone calls, share with colleagues? Maybe just skipping BCM and keeping them in generic Outlook would be adequate?

John

"Toni Carlson" wrote:

> Why go thru 2 steps? They aren't going to remain in Contacts. And since I'm dealing with a large number of imports every time, it is time consuming to do. This is for a local political campaign so we're importing hundreds of contacts at a time. Just selecting them all to drag and drop them into BCM is slow. And it is a little difficult to explain why the user needs to do this where there really is no good reason. It is one field - why leave it out? We thought we'd give BCM a try since it came with the version of Office we purchased but it is becoming more hassle than it is worth.
>
> "JohnC" wrote:
>
> > I don't know about getting the import directly to BCM working, but importing to Contacts then moving to BCM is really not that big of a deal. I do it all the time. Once you get them all into Contacts (or, a convenient subfolder) you just drag and drop them to Business Contacts. I guess the only way that wouldn't work well is if you are also trying to import into some of the custom BCM fields...
> >
> > John
> >
> > "Toni Carlson" wrote:
> >
> > > Instead of having the same address fields as Contacts, BCM is different - and lacking apparently. I have tons of contacts to import into BCM from Excel and this will be an ongoing procedure. I cannot map a second address line (like a suite number) to BCM since it only has one street address field. The only way I can make this work so far, is to import them first into Contacts and then move them over to BCM. This seems unnecessary and time consuming. Any ideas? Excel doesn't really support line breaks in a cell, and if you concatenate the 2 address fields with a comma between then they come out all on one line in BCM. I want them as 2 distinct address lines.

Toni:

BTW, there is a program called AddressGrabber that can import directly into BCM (or any contacts folder). You just highlight an address on a web page or in an email, click on the AddressGrabber icon in the systray, and it imports into whatever contacts folder is the 'current' one. I used it for awhile with BCM and it worked pretty well. They have a program called ListGrabber for importing multiple items from lists and/or spreadsheets - maybe that would work for you. You can check them out at www.egrabber.com.

John

"JohnC" wrote:

> Toni:
>
> Maybe I should find out what party you're working for before I offer to help any more ;-)
>
> Why go thru 2 steps? - because it works! I don't have BCM installed on my machine here at home, so I can't play with importing. I'll just assume that you are right and there is no way to import to "Business Street 2". If so, it is a bug that the nice folks at MS will hopefully rectify at some undetermined point in the future. For me, I still feel that it is a relatively trivial additional step - import to a suitable Contacts subfolder, control-A, then drag-and-drop on the BCM Contacts folder. I agree, if it is not just for you but a procedure for many other people to use that it makes it a little harder and subject to errors.
>
> Perhaps you could tell us what you are planning to do with the contacts once imported. Mail merges, log phone calls, share with colleagues? Maybe just skipping BCM and keeping them in generic Outlook would be adequate?
>
> John
>
> "Toni Carlson" wrote:
>
> > Why go thru 2 steps? They aren't going to remain in Contacts. And since I'm dealing with a large number of imports every time, it is time consuming to do. This is for a local political campaign so we're importing hundreds of contacts at a time. Just selecting them all to drag and drop them into BCM is slow. And it is a little difficult to explain why the user needs to do this where there really is no good reason. It is one field - why leave it out? We thought we'd give BCM a try since it came with the version of Office we purchased but it is becoming more hassle than it is worth.
> >
> > "JohnC" wrote:
> >
> > > I don't know about getting the import directly to BCM working, but importing to Contacts then moving to BCM is really not that big of a deal. I do it all the time. Once you get them all into Contacts (or, a convenient subfolder) you just drag and drop them to Business Contacts. I guess the only way that wouldn't work well is if you are also trying to import into some of the custom BCM fields...
> > >
> > > John
> > >
> > > "Toni Carlson" wrote:
> > >
> > > > Instead of having the same address fields as Contacts, BCM is different - and lacking apparently. I have tons of contacts to import into BCM from Excel and this will be an ongoing procedure. I cannot map a second address line (like a suite number) to BCM since it only has one street address field. The only way I can make this work so far, is to import them first into Contacts and then move them over to BCM. This seems unnecessary and time consuming. Any ideas? Excel doesn't really support line breaks in a cell, and if you concatenate the 2 address fields with a comma between then they come out all on one line in BCM. I want them as 2 distinct address lines.

LOL - let's just say that it isn't MY party. But every time I get a check for my services I contribute to what I believe to be correct! Rob the rich, give to the poor.

This isn't about easy to grab web addresses. This is about business cards handed out at fundraisers and entered by low level data entry into a spreadsheet. The import issue needs to be easy since I don't want to keep doing it for them. But even ctrl+A takes a while when you are dealing with large numbers. Is it just me or does BCM make Outlook run slower?

They need to track pledges and contributions received. Which is way beyond Outlook contacts. but ACT or Goldmine could do easily. It is hard to just say, "Oh, well that is the way it is" when you know there is a product out there that could do this with one mouse tied behind it's back. Since this also ties in with my posting about not being able to do simple "AND" searches, ACT wins without a doubt.

T

"JohnC" wrote:

> Toni:
>
> BTW, there is a program called AddressGrabber that can import directly into BCM (or any contacts folder). You just highlight an address on a web page or in an email, click on the AddressGrabber icon in the systray, and it imports into whatever contacts folder is the 'current' one. I used it for awhile with BCM and it worked pretty well. They have a program called ListGrabber for importing multiple items from lists and/or spreadsheets - maybe that would work for you. You can check them out at www.egrabber.com.
>
> John
>
> "JohnC" wrote:
>
> > Toni:
> >
> > Maybe I should find out what party you're working for before I offer to help any more ;-)
> >
> > Why go thru 2 steps? - because it works! I don't have BCM installed on my machine here at home, so I can't play with importing. I'll just assume that you are right and there is no way to import to "Business Street 2". If so, it is a bug that the nice folks at MS will hopefully rectify at some undetermined point in the future. For me, I still feel that it is a relatively trivial additional step - import to a suitable Contacts subfolder, control-A, then drag-and-drop on the BCM Contacts folder. I agree, if it is not just for you but a procedure for many other people to use that it makes it a little harder and subject to errors.
> >
> > Perhaps you could tell us what you are planning to do with the contacts once imported. Mail merges, log phone calls, share with colleagues? Maybe just skipping BCM and keeping them in generic Outlook would be adequate?
> >
> > John
> >
> > "Toni Carlson" wrote:
> >
> > > Why go thru 2 steps? They aren't going to remain in Contacts. And since I'm dealing with a large number of imports every time, it is time consuming to do. This is for a local political campaign so we're importing hundreds of contacts at a time. Just selecting them all to drag and drop them into BCM is slow. And it is a little difficult to explain why the user needs to do this where there really is no good reason. It is one field - why leave it out? We thought we'd give BCM a try since it came with the version of Office we purchased but it is becoming more hassle than it is worth.
> > >
> > > "JohnC" wrote:
> > >
> > > > I don't know about getting the import directly to BCM working, but importing to Contacts then moving to BCM is really not that big of a deal. I do it all the time. Once you get them all into Contacts (or, a convenient subfolder) you just drag and drop them to Business Contacts. I guess the only way that wouldn't work well is if you are also trying to import into some of the custom BCM fields...
> > > >
> > > > John
> > > >
> > > > "Toni Carlson" wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Instead of having the same address fields as Contacts, BCM is different - and lacking apparently. I have tons of contacts to import into BCM from Excel and this will be an ongoing procedure. I cannot map a second address line (like a suite number) to BCM since it only has one street address field. The only way I can make this work so far, is to import them first into Contacts and then move them over to BCM. This seems unnecessary and time consuming. Any ideas? Excel doesn't really support line breaks in a cell, and if you concatenate the 2 address fields with a comma between then they come out all on one line in BCM. I want them as 2 distinct address lines.

Toni:

BCM doesn't currently officially support any custom fields or existing field customization, so tracking pledges and money received would be a chore.

Outlook Contacts could *easily* do it through the addition of a couple of custom fields. Or you could just leave everything in a spreadsheet, or setup an Access database (there are some database templates that are pretty close to what you need). And, as you've noted, this is definitely a no-brainer for ACT.

Finally, there is a company that makes a business card scanner that your people could use to just scan the information directly into whichever program you decide (or have decided) to use. Check them out at http://www.corex.com/cardscan/cardscan_home.asp.

Good luck!

John


"Toni Carlson" wrote:

> LOL - let's just say that it isn't MY party. But every time I get a check for my services I contribute to what I believe to be correct! Rob the rich, give to the poor.
>
> This isn't about easy to grab web addresses. This is about business cards handed out at fundraisers and entered by low level data entry into a spreadsheet. The import issue needs to be easy since I don't want to keep doing it for them. But even ctrl+A takes a while when you are dealing with large numbers. Is it just me or does BCM make Outlook run slower?
>
> They need to track pledges and contributions received. Which is way beyond Outlook contacts. but ACT or Goldmine could do easily. It is hard to just say, "Oh, well that is the way it is" when you know there is a product out there that could do this with one mouse tied behind it's back. Since this also ties in with my posting about not being able to do simple "AND" searches, ACT wins without a doubt.
>
> T
>
> "JohnC" wrote:
>
> > Toni:
> >
> > BTW, there is a program called AddressGrabber that can import directly into BCM (or any contacts folder). You just highlight an address on a web page or in an email, click on the AddressGrabber icon in the systray, and it imports into whatever contacts folder is the 'current' one. I used it for awhile with BCM and it worked pretty well. They have a program called ListGrabber for importing multiple items from lists and/or spreadsheets - maybe that would work for you. You can check them out at www.egrabber.com.
> >
> > John
> >
> > "JohnC" wrote:
> >
> > > Toni:
> > >
> > > Maybe I should find out what party you're working for before I offer to help any more ;-)
> > >
> > > Why go thru 2 steps? - because it works! I don't have BCM installed on my machine here at home, so I can't play with importing. I'll just assume that you are right and there is no way to import to "Business Street 2". If so, it is a bug that the nice folks at MS will hopefully rectify at some undetermined point in the future. For me, I still feel that it is a relatively trivial additional step - import to a suitable Contacts subfolder, control-A, then drag-and-drop on the BCM Contacts folder. I agree, if it is not just for you but a procedure for many other people to use that it makes it a little harder and subject to errors.
> > >
> > > Perhaps you could tell us what you are planning to do with the contacts once imported. Mail merges, log phone calls, share with colleagues? Maybe just skipping BCM and keeping them in generic Outlook would be adequate?
> > >
> > > John
> > >
> > > "Toni Carlson" wrote:
> > >
> > > > Why go thru 2 steps? They aren't going to remain in Contacts. And since I'm dealing with a large number of imports every time, it is time consuming to do. This is for a local political campaign so we're importing hundreds of contacts at a time. Just selecting them all to drag and drop them into BCM is slow. And it is a little difficult to explain why the user needs to do this where there really is no good reason. It is one field - why leave it out? We thought we'd give BCM a try since it came with the version of Office we purchased but it is becoming more hassle than it is worth.
> > > >
> > > > "JohnC" wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > I don't know about getting the import directly to BCM working, but importing to Contacts then moving to BCM is really not that big of a deal. I do it all the time. Once you get them all into Contacts (or, a convenient subfolder) you just drag and drop them to Business Contacts. I guess the only way that wouldn't work well is if you are also trying to import into some of the custom BCM fields...
> > > > >
> > > > > John
> > > > >
> > > > > "Toni Carlson" wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > Instead of having the same address fields as Contacts, BCM is different - and lacking apparently. I have tons of contacts to import into BCM from Excel and this will be an ongoing procedure. I cannot map a second address line (like a suite number) to BCM since it only has one street address field. The only way I can make this work so far, is to import them first into Contacts and then move them over to BCM. This seems unnecessary and time consuming. Any ideas? Excel doesn't really support line breaks in a cell, and if you concatenate the 2 address fields with a comma between then they come out all on one line in BCM. I want them as 2 distinct address lines.

You may also want to check out our product http://www.tabtag.com which does
very similar stuff to BCM and a LOT more .... using access its is possible
to import directly into the SQL database.

By the way .... importing from another source into BCM (or TabTag) will be
slow, its just the nature of how things work ... by far the fastest way to
import data is to do it directly into the SQL database.

--
Michael Tissington
http://www.oaklodge.com
http://www.tabtag.com


"JohnC" <JohnC@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:6394BCBD-56EB-4BE5-B7F8-67D04DE356FE@microsoft.com...
> Toni:
>
> BCM doesn't currently officially support any custom fields or existing
field customization, so tracking pledges and money received would be a
chore.
>
> Outlook Contacts could *easily* do it through the addition of a couple of
custom fields. Or you could just leave everything in a spreadsheet, or
setup an Access database (there are some database templates that are pretty
close to what you need). And, as you've noted, this is definitely a
no-brainer for ACT.
>
> Finally, there is a company that makes a business card scanner that your
people could use to just scan the information directly into whichever
program you decide (or have decided) to use. Check them out at
http://www.corex.com/cardscan/cardscan_home.asp.
>
> Good luck!
>
> John
>
>
> "Toni Carlson" wrote:
>
> > LOL - let's just say that it isn't MY party. But every time I get a
check for my services I contribute to what I believe to be correct! Rob the
rich, give to the poor.
> >
> > This isn't about easy to grab web addresses. This is about business
cards handed out at fundraisers and entered by low level data entry into a
spreadsheet. The import issue needs to be easy since I don't want to keep
doing it for them. But even ctrl+A takes a while when you are dealing with
large numbers. Is it just me or does BCM make Outlook run slower?
> >
> > They need to track pledges and contributions received. Which is way
beyond Outlook contacts. but ACT or Goldmine could do easily. It is hard
to just say, "Oh, well that is the way it is" when you know there is a
product out there that could do this with one mouse tied behind it's back.
Since this also ties in with my posting about not being able to do simple
"AND" searches, ACT wins without a doubt.
> >
> > T
> >
> > "JohnC" wrote:
> >
> > > Toni:
> > >
> > > BTW, there is a program called AddressGrabber that can import directly
into BCM (or any contacts folder). You just highlight an address on a web
page or in an email, click on the AddressGrabber icon in the systray, and it
imports into whatever contacts folder is the 'current' one. I used it for
awhile with BCM and it worked pretty well. They have a program called
ListGrabber for importing multiple items from lists and/or spreadsheets -
maybe that would work for you. You can check them out at www.egrabber.com.
> > >
> > > John
> > >
> > > "JohnC" wrote:
> > >
> > > > Toni:
> > > >
> > > > Maybe I should find out what party you're working for before I offer
to help any more ;-)
> > > >
> > > > Why go thru 2 steps? - because it works! I don't have BCM installed
on my machine here at home, so I can't play with importing. I'll just
assume that you are right and there is no way to import to "Business Street
2". If so, it is a bug that the nice folks at MS will hopefully rectify at
some undetermined point in the future. For me, I still feel that it is a
relatively trivial additional step - import to a suitable Contacts
subfolder, control-A, then drag-and-drop on the BCM Contacts folder. I
agree, if it is not just for you but a procedure for many other people to
use that it makes it a little harder and subject to errors.
> > > >
> > > > Perhaps you could tell us what you are planning to do with the
contacts once imported. Mail merges, log phone calls, share with
colleagues? Maybe just skipping BCM and keeping them in generic Outlook
would be adequate?
> > > >
> > > > John
> > > >
> > > > "Toni Carlson" wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Why go thru 2 steps? They aren't going to remain in Contacts.
And since I'm dealing with a large number of imports every time, it is time
consuming to do. This is for a local political campaign so we're importing
hundreds of contacts at a time. Just selecting them all to drag and drop
them into BCM is slow. And it is a little difficult to explain why the user
needs to do this where there really is no good reason. It is one field -
why leave it out? We thought we'd give BCM a try since it came with the
version of Office we purchased but it is becoming more hassle than it is
worth.
> > > > >
> > > > > "JohnC" wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > I don't know about getting the import directly to BCM working,
but importing to Contacts then moving to BCM is really not that big of a
deal. I do it all the time. Once you get them all into Contacts (or, a
convenient subfolder) you just drag and drop them to Business Contacts. I
guess the only way that wouldn't work well is if you are also trying to
import into some of the custom BCM fields...
> > > > > >
> > > > > > John
> > > > > >
> > > > > > "Toni Carlson" wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > > Instead of having the same address fields as Contacts, BCM is
different - and lacking apparently. I have tons of contacts to import into
BCM from Excel and this will be an ongoing procedure. I cannot map a second
address line (like a suite number) to BCM since it only has one street
address field. The only way I can make this work so far, is to import them
first into Contacts and then move them over to BCM. This seems unnecessary
and time consuming. Any ideas? Excel doesn't really support line breaks in
a cell, and if you concatenate the 2 address fields with a comma between
then they come out all on one line in BCM. I want them as 2 distinct
address lines.

Michael:

I was just about to post and mention TabTag to her...

How would someone import directly into the BCM SQL database?

John

"Michael Tissington" wrote:

> You may also want to check out our product http://www.tabtag.com which does
> very similar stuff to BCM and a LOT more .... using access its is possible
> to import directly into the SQL database.
>
> By the way .... importing from another source into BCM (or TabTag) will be
> slow, its just the nature of how things work ... by far the fastest way to
> import data is to do it directly into the SQL database.
>
> --
> Michael Tissington
> http://www.oaklodge.com
> http://www.tabtag.com
>
>
> "JohnC" <JohnC@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:6394BCBD-56EB-4BE5-B7F8-67D04DE356FE@microsoft.com...
> > Toni:
> >
> > BCM doesn't currently officially support any custom fields or existing
> field customization, so tracking pledges and money received would be a
> chore.
> >
> > Outlook Contacts could *easily* do it through the addition of a couple of
> custom fields. Or you could just leave everything in a spreadsheet, or
> setup an Access database (there are some database templates that are pretty
> close to what you need). And, as you've noted, this is definitely a
> no-brainer for ACT.
> >
> > Finally, there is a company that makes a business card scanner that your
> people could use to just scan the information directly into whichever
> program you decide (or have decided) to use. Check them out at
> http://www.corex.com/cardscan/cardscan_home.asp.
> >
> > Good luck!
> >
> > John
> >
> >
> > "Toni Carlson" wrote:
> >
> > > LOL - let's just say that it isn't MY party. But every time I get a
> check for my services I contribute to what I believe to be correct! Rob the
> rich, give to the poor.
> > >
> > > This isn't about easy to grab web addresses. This is about business
> cards handed out at fundraisers and entered by low level data entry into a
> spreadsheet. The import issue needs to be easy since I don't want to keep
> doing it for them. But even ctrl+A takes a while when you are dealing with
> large numbers. Is it just me or does BCM make Outlook run slower?
> > >
> > > They need to track pledges and contributions received. Which is way
> beyond Outlook contacts. but ACT or Goldmine could do easily. It is hard
> to just say, "Oh, well that is the way it is" when you know there is a
> product out there that could do this with one mouse tied behind it's back.
> Since this also ties in with my posting about not being able to do simple
> "AND" searches, ACT wins without a doubt.
> > >
> > > T
> > >
> > > "JohnC" wrote:
> > >
> > > > Toni:
> > > >
> > > > BTW, there is a program called AddressGrabber that can import directly
> into BCM (or any contacts folder). You just highlight an address on a web
> page or in an email, click on the AddressGrabber icon in the systray, and it
> imports into whatever contacts folder is the 'current' one. I used it for
> awhile with BCM and it worked pretty well. They have a program called
> ListGrabber for importing multiple items from lists and/or spreadsheets -
> maybe that would work for you. You can check them out at www.egrabber.com.
> > > >
> > > > John
> > > >
> > > > "JohnC" wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Toni:
> > > > >
> > > > > Maybe I should find out what party you're working for before I offer
> to help any more ;-)
> > > > >
> > > > > Why go thru 2 steps? - because it works! I don't have BCM installed
> on my machine here at home, so I can't play with importing. I'll just
> assume that you are right and there is no way to import to "Business Street
> 2". If so, it is a bug that the nice folks at MS will hopefully rectify at
> some undetermined point in the future. For me, I still feel that it is a
> relatively trivial additional step - import to a suitable Contacts
> subfolder, control-A, then drag-and-drop on the BCM Contacts folder. I
> agree, if it is not just for you but a procedure for many other people to
> use that it makes it a little harder and subject to errors.
> > > > >
> > > > > Perhaps you could tell us what you are planning to do with the
> contacts once imported. Mail merges, log phone calls, share with
> colleagues? Maybe just skipping BCM and keeping them in generic Outlook
> would be adequate?
> > > > >
> > > > > John
> > > > >
> > > > > "Toni Carlson" wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > Why go thru 2 steps? They aren't going to remain in Contacts.
> And since I'm dealing with a large number of imports every time, it is time
> consuming to do. This is for a local political campaign so we're importing
> hundreds of contacts at a time. Just selecting them all to drag and drop
> them into BCM is slow. And it is a little difficult to explain why the user
> needs to do this where there really is no good reason. It is one field -
> why leave it out? We thought we'd give BCM a try since it came with the
> version of Office we purchased but it is becoming more hassle than it is
> worth.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > "JohnC" wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > > I don't know about getting the import directly to BCM working,
> but importing to Contacts then moving to BCM is really not that big of a
> deal. I do it all the time. Once you get them all into Contacts (or, a
> convenient subfolder) you just drag and drop them to Business Contacts. I
> guess the only way that wouldn't work well is if you are also trying to
> import into some of the custom BCM fields...
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > John
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > "Toni Carlson" wrote:
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > Instead of having the same address fields as Contacts, BCM is
> different - and lacking apparently. I have tons of contacts to import into
> BCM from Excel and this will be an ongoing procedure. I cannot map a second
> address line (like a suite number) to BCM since it only has one street
> address field. The only way I can make this work so far, is to import them
> first into Contacts and then move them over to BCM. This seems unnecessary
> and time consuming. Any ideas? Excel doesn't really support line breaks in
> a cell, and if you concatenate the 2 address fields with a comma between
> then they come out all on one line in BCM. I want them as 2 distinct
> address lines.
>
>
>

To import into the BCM database I'd use something like Access and create a
project (with existing data) to view the database and from there you can do
the import.

I'd recommend first creating a single Contact with sample data that you will
be entering (using the Outlook gui) and then examine the BCM tables to see
what you need to import.

--
Michael Tissington
http://www.oaklodge.com
http://www.tabtag.com


"JohnC" <JohnC@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:089B7D62-4025-4927-9CFF-0AE15507540F@microsoft.com...
> Michael:
>
> I was just about to post and mention TabTag to her...
>
> How would someone import directly into the BCM SQL database?
>
> John
>
> "Michael Tissington" wrote:
>
> > You may also want to check out our product http://www.tabtag.com which
does
> > very similar stuff to BCM and a LOT more .... using access its is
possible
> > to import directly into the SQL database.
> >
> > By the way .... importing from another source into BCM (or TabTag) will
be
> > slow, its just the nature of how things work ... by far the fastest way
to
> > import data is to do it directly into the SQL database.
> >
> > --
> > Michael Tissington
> > http://www.oaklodge.com
> > http://www.tabtag.com
> >
> >
> > "JohnC" <JohnC@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> > news:6394BCBD-56EB-4BE5-B7F8-67D04DE356FE@microsoft.com...
> > > Toni:
> > >
> > > BCM doesn't currently officially support any custom fields or existing
> > field customization, so tracking pledges and money received would be a
> > chore.
> > >
> > > Outlook Contacts could *easily* do it through the addition of a couple
of
> > custom fields. Or you could just leave everything in a spreadsheet, or
> > setup an Access database (there are some database templates that are
pretty
> > close to what you need). And, as you've noted, this is definitely a
> > no-brainer for ACT.
> > >
> > > Finally, there is a company that makes a business card scanner that
your
> > people could use to just scan the information directly into whichever
> > program you decide (or have decided) to use. Check them out at
> > http://www.corex.com/cardscan/cardscan_home.asp.
> > >
> > > Good luck!
> > >
> > > John
> > >
> > >
> > > "Toni Carlson" wrote:
> > >
> > > > LOL - let's just say that it isn't MY party. But every time I get a
> > check for my services I contribute to what I believe to be correct! Rob
the
> > rich, give to the poor.
> > > >
> > > > This isn't about easy to grab web addresses. This is about business
> > cards handed out at fundraisers and entered by low level data entry into
a
> > spreadsheet. The import issue needs to be easy since I don't want to
keep
> > doing it for them. But even ctrl+A takes a while when you are dealing
with
> > large numbers. Is it just me or does BCM make Outlook run slower?
> > > >
> > > > They need to track pledges and contributions received. Which is way
> > beyond Outlook contacts. but ACT or Goldmine could do easily. It is
hard
> > to just say, "Oh, well that is the way it is" when you know there is a
> > product out there that could do this with one mouse tied behind it's
back.
> > Since this also ties in with my posting about not being able to do
simple
> > "AND" searches, ACT wins without a doubt.
> > > >
> > > > T
> > > >
> > > > "JohnC" wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Toni:
> > > > >
> > > > > BTW, there is a program called AddressGrabber that can import
directly
> > into BCM (or any contacts folder). You just highlight an address on a
web
> > page or in an email, click on the AddressGrabber icon in the systray,
and it
> > imports into whatever contacts folder is the 'current' one. I used it
for
> > awhile with BCM and it worked pretty well. They have a program called
> > ListGrabber for importing multiple items from lists and/or
spreadsheets -
> > maybe that would work for you. You can check them out at
www.egrabber.com.
> > > > >
> > > > > John
> > > > >
> > > > > "JohnC" wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > Toni:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Maybe I should find out what party you're working for before I
offer
> > to help any more ;-)
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Why go thru 2 steps? - because it works! I don't have BCM
installed
> > on my machine here at home, so I can't play with importing. I'll just
> > assume that you are right and there is no way to import to "Business
Street
> > 2". If so, it is a bug that the nice folks at MS will hopefully rectify
at
> > some undetermined point in the future. For me, I still feel that it is
a
> > relatively trivial additional step - import to a suitable Contacts
> > subfolder, control-A, then drag-and-drop on the BCM Contacts folder. I
> > agree, if it is not just for you but a procedure for many other people
to
> > use that it makes it a little harder and subject to errors.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Perhaps you could tell us what you are planning to do with the
> > contacts once imported. Mail merges, log phone calls, share with
> > colleagues? Maybe just skipping BCM and keeping them in generic Outlook
> > would be adequate?
> > > > > >
> > > > > > John
> > > > > >
> > > > > > "Toni Carlson" wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > > Why go thru 2 steps? They aren't going to remain in Contacts.
> > And since I'm dealing with a large number of imports every time, it is
time
> > consuming to do. This is for a local political campaign so we're
importing
> > hundreds of contacts at a time. Just selecting them all to drag and
drop
> > them into BCM is slow. And it is a little difficult to explain why the
user
> > needs to do this where there really is no good reason. It is one
field -
> > why leave it out? We thought we'd give BCM a try since it came with the
> > version of Office we purchased but it is becoming more hassle than it is
> > worth.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > "JohnC" wrote:
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > I don't know about getting the import directly to BCM
working,
> > but importing to Contacts then moving to BCM is really not that big of a
> > deal. I do it all the time. Once you get them all into Contacts (or, a
> > convenient subfolder) you just drag and drop them to Business Contacts.
I
> > guess the only way that wouldn't work well is if you are also trying to
> > import into some of the custom BCM fields...
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > John
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > "Toni Carlson" wrote:
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > Instead of having the same address fields as Contacts, BCM
is
> > different - and lacking apparently. I have tons of contacts to import
into
> > BCM from Excel and this will be an ongoing procedure. I cannot map a
second
> > address line (like a suite number) to BCM since it only has one street
> > address field. The only way I can make this work so far, is to import
them
> > first into Contacts and then move them over to BCM. This seems
unnecessary
> > and time consuming. Any ideas? Excel doesn't really support line
breaks in
> > a cell, and if you concatenate the 2 address fields with a comma between
> > then they come out all on one line in BCM. I want them as 2 distinct
> > address lines.
> >
> >
> >

Michael:

The one thing I have not figured out yet is how to use Access to view the BCM database. How do you do that??

Also, I'm going to download TabTag today or tomorrow and start playing with it...

John

"Michael Tissington" wrote:

> To import into the BCM database I'd use something like Access and create a
> project (with existing data) to view the database and from there you can do
> the import.
>
> I'd recommend first creating a single Contact with sample data that you will
> be entering (using the Outlook gui) and then examine the BCM tables to see
> what you need to import.
>
> --
> Michael Tissington
> http://www.oaklodge.com
> http://www.tabtag.com
>
>
> "JohnC" <JohnC@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:089B7D62-4025-4927-9CFF-0AE15507540F@microsoft.com...
> > Michael:
> >
> > I was just about to post and mention TabTag to her...
> >
> > How would someone import directly into the BCM SQL database?
> >
> > John
> >
> > "Michael Tissington" wrote:
> >
> > > You may also want to check out our product http://www.tabtag.com which
> does
> > > very similar stuff to BCM and a LOT more .... using access its is
> possible
> > > to import directly into the SQL database.
> > >
> > > By the way .... importing from another source into BCM (or TabTag) will
> be
> > > slow, its just the nature of how things work ... by far the fastest way
> to
> > > import data is to do it directly into the SQL database.
> > >
> > > --
> > > Michael Tissington
> > > http://www.oaklodge.com
> > > http://www.tabtag.com
> > >
> > >
> > > "JohnC" <JohnC@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> > > news:6394BCBD-56EB-4BE5-B7F8-67D04DE356FE@microsoft.com...
> > > > Toni:
> > > >
> > > > BCM doesn't currently officially support any custom fields or existing
> > > field customization, so tracking pledges and money received would be a
> > > chore.
> > > >
> > > > Outlook Contacts could *easily* do it through the addition of a couple
> of
> > > custom fields. Or you could just leave everything in a spreadsheet, or
> > > setup an Access database (there are some database templates that are
> pretty
> > > close to what you need). And, as you've noted, this is definitely a
> > > no-brainer for ACT.
> > > >
> > > > Finally, there is a company that makes a business card scanner that
> your
> > > people could use to just scan the information directly into whichever
> > > program you decide (or have decided) to use. Check them out at
> > > http://www.corex.com/cardscan/cardscan_home.asp.
> > > >
> > > > Good luck!
> > > >
> > > > John
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > "Toni Carlson" wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > LOL - let's just say that it isn't MY party. But every time I get a
> > > check for my services I contribute to what I believe to be correct! Rob
> the
> > > rich, give to the poor.
> > > > >
> > > > > This isn't about easy to grab web addresses. This is about business
> > > cards handed out at fundraisers and entered by low level data entry into
> a
> > > spreadsheet. The import issue needs to be easy since I don't want to
> keep
> > > doing it for them. But even ctrl+A takes a while when you are dealing
> with
> > > large numbers. Is it just me or does BCM make Outlook run slower?
> > > > >
> > > > > They need to track pledges and contributions received. Which is way
> > > beyond Outlook contacts. but ACT or Goldmine could do easily. It is
> hard
> > > to just say, "Oh, well that is the way it is" when you know there is a
> > > product out there that could do this with one mouse tied behind it's
> back.
> > > Since this also ties in with my posting about not being able to do
> simple
> > > "AND" searches, ACT wins without a doubt.
> > > > >
> > > > > T
> > > > >
> > > > > "JohnC" wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > Toni:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > BTW, there is a program called AddressGrabber that can import
> directly
> > > into BCM (or any contacts folder). You just highlight an address on a
> web
> > > page or in an email, click on the AddressGrabber icon in the systray,
> and it
> > > imports into whatever contacts folder is the 'current' one. I used it
> for
> > > awhile with BCM and it worked pretty well. They have a program called
> > > ListGrabber for importing multiple items from lists and/or
> spreadsheets -
> > > maybe that would work for you. You can check them out at
> www.egrabber.com.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > John
> > > > > >
> > > > > > "JohnC" wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > > Toni:
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Maybe I should find out what party you're working for before I
> offer
> > > to help any more ;-)
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Why go thru 2 steps? - because it works! I don't have BCM
> installed
> > > on my machine here at home, so I can't play with importing. I'll just
> > > assume that you are right and there is no way to import to "Business
> Street
> > > 2". If so, it is a bug that the nice folks at MS will hopefully rectify
> at
> > > some undetermined point in the future. For me, I still feel that it is
> a
> > > relatively trivial additional step - import to a suitable Contacts
> > > subfolder, control-A, then drag-and-drop on the BCM Contacts folder. I
> > > agree, if it is not just for you but a procedure for many other people
> to
> > > use that it makes it a little harder and subject to errors.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Perhaps you could tell us what you are planning to do with the
> > > contacts once imported. Mail merges, log phone calls, share with
> > > colleagues? Maybe just skipping BCM and keeping them in generic Outlook
> > > would be adequate?
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > John
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > "Toni Carlson" wrote:
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > Why go thru 2 steps? They aren't going to remain in Contacts.
> > > And since I'm dealing with a large number of imports every time, it is
> time
> > > consuming to do. This is for a local political campaign so we're
> importing
> > > hundreds of contacts at a time. Just selecting them all to drag and
> drop
> > > them into BCM is slow. And it is a little difficult to explain why the
> user
> > > needs to do this where there really is no good reason. It is one
> field -
> > > why leave it out? We thought we'd give BCM a try since it came with the
> > > version of Office we purchased but it is becoming more hassle than it is
> > > worth.
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > "JohnC" wrote:
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > I don't know about getting the import directly to BCM
> working,
> > > but importing to Contacts then moving to BCM is really not that big of a
> > > deal. I do it all the time. Once you get them all into Contacts (or, a
> > > convenient subfolder) you just drag and drop them to Business Contacts.
> I
> > > guess the only way that wouldn't work well is if you are also trying to
> > > import into some of the custom BCM fields...
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > John
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > "Toni Carlson" wrote:
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > > Instead of having the same address fields as Contacts, BCM
> is
> > > different - and lacking apparently. I have tons of contacts to import
> into
> > > BCM from Excel and this will be an ongoing procedure. I cannot map a
> second
> > > address line (like a suite number) to BCM since it only has one street
> > > address field. The only way I can make this work so far, is to import
> them
> > > first into Contacts and then move them over to BCM. This seems
> unnecessary
> > > and time consuming. Any ideas? Excel doesn't really support line
> breaks in
> > > a cell, and if you concatenate the 2 address fields with a comma between
> > > then they come out all on one line in BCM. I want them as 2 distinct
> > > address lines.
> > >
> > >
> > >
>
>
>