Importing from Excel

[Russell Fisher]

I am trying to import a contact list that was developed
in Excel into an Outlook Contact file. It is an
experience packed with uncertainty. I can't figure out
how to set up the worksheet to reliably import the data.
It works now and then but I am not always sure exactly
what I did to get it to work. Is there a set of
guidelines somewhere to help with this task? I have had
a lot of trouble getting Outlook translation to bring in
email addresses for example. How should they be formatted
in Excel for Outlook to bring them in correctly.
Is there a limit on how many records a file can hold? I
have lots of questions and would appreciate any one who
has suffered through the experience.

Thanks

Russell Fisher

 

[Karl Timmermans]

The experience needn't be painful - follow these suggestions and you should
do just fine

The Excel side

#1 - Set up your worksheet so that each contact has all their information on
one line (one row)
#2 - Set up each piece of info (field) so that it occupies one column in
that row
#3 - In the first row of your worksheet - put the name of the field that
column will contain
(i.e. First Name, City etc)
#4 - For phone #'s - make sure that the column is formatted specifically as
"TEXT" and left align the info
#5 - Create a named range which covers all the rows you want to import
including the first row which
contains your column headings
#6 - Save your worksheet -
$6a - if you don't want to play around with "Named Ranges" - save the
worksheet as a CSV file

The Outlook side

#1 - From your <File> menu - select the Import/Export wizard
#2 - Bascially follow the screens with this important emphasis
- when you get to the screen that's titled "Import a file" - MAKE
SURE you CHECK the box
beside the file you're importing - that will enabled the button
that lets you map your fields
#3 - Map each field you want to import into Outlook

* using the standard wizard -you cannot import into any user-defined fields
or to a folder using a custom
form (well you can import to the folder, just the custom form won't be
applied to the new contacts)
** if you need to import more then once - you will have to map your fields
each time. You can let Outlook
automap your fields if the column names you've used are identical to
the internal field names that Outlook
uses.

Once you've done the above - just import your data and you should be all
set.

Karl

--
___________________________________
Karl Timmermans - The Claxton Group

ContactGenie - "automated contact importer for MS Outlook '2000/2002
http://contactgenie.claxton.com