Importing to Access

[Guest]

I get emails daily with a link to click on. When I click on the link it takes
me to a page with my info in a table that I think is getting the info from a
type of online database like SQL or Oracle. From this database I am provided
with mailing addresses. I copy and paste these into my mailing label maker
program, one at a time. It is obviously time consuming. I know there is a way
to import with Access. But I am not familiar with access. I am not sure if
there is a way to import with the way that I am obtaining my information.
Please help me save half a day, everyday!!!

 

[Guest]

Hi, Angel.

I am not sure if
there is a way to import with the way that I am obtaining my information.

I'd try it the easy way first. Download the Web page onto your hard drive,
then import the HTML table into your Access database. If it's a table and
not much text, it should work fine. If there's a lot of text and scripts in
addition to the table of data, then you'll have to parse the extraneous HTML
and scripts out of the Web page first before importing.

Select the File -> Get External Data -> Import menu, then navigate to the
directory where you saved the Web page. Change the "Files of Type" combo box
at the bottom of the Import dialog window to "HTML documents (*.html, *.htm)"
and then select your file's name, then select the import button.

If it's successful, you're good to go and the data is in an Access table.
If not, then look at the raw HTML and see if you can selectively cut it out
so that only the data table exists. Make a backup copy of the file, do the
cutting, then save it and try to import it again. It should take a few
minutes, but nothing like half a day!

HTH.
Gunny

See http://www.QBuilt.com for all your database needs.
See http://www.Access.QBuilt.com for Microsoft Access tips and tutorials.
Blog: http://DataDevilDog.BlogSpot.com
http://www.Access.QBuilt.com/html/expert_contributors2.html for contact info.

 

[Guest]

You are the greatest!! Thanks on those links too. Now that is service at its
best
One more question, . . .
Can I specify which columns I want to be imported and exclude the ones with
the useless data that I don't need? If so, how?

 

['69 Camaro]

Hi, Angel.

Can I specify which columns I want to be imported and exclude the ones
with
the useless data that I don't need? If so, how?

Yes. When the Import HTML Wizard comes up, select the "Advanced..." button
(in the bottom left) to open the Table Import Specification page. In the
lower half you'll see the list of fields and a checkbox for each one labled
"Skip." Check that box for each field you don't want and that column will
not appear in the final table. Feel free to alter the rest of the field
information, such as the field name, but be careful with the data types,
since what's listed needs to match the data types in the HTML table.

HTH.
Gunny

See http://www.QBuilt.com for all your database needs.
See http://www.Access.QBuilt.com for Microsoft Access tips and tutorials.
Blog: http://DataDevilDog.BlogSpot.com
http://www.Access.QBuilt.com/html/expert_contributors2.html for contact
info.