Diary, Export Contacts to Outlook

 

There are many different versions of Microsoft Outlook, but the principle for exporting to them is always similar…

·        Step 1 - Export your Durell data to a spreadsheet and save it as a “Text (Tab delimited) (*.txt)” file

·        Step 2 - In Outlook select the option to import a “Tab Separated Values (Windows)” file

 

Before starting it is crucial that you understand how to export data from Durell to Excel (see “Documents, Spreadsheet, Output”), after which you should create a new “Data Set”, exactly like that illustrated below, called “Export Contacts”.

 

 

 

Step 1 - Export from Durell

Starting from Durell’s Main Menu…

·        Click the “People” button

·        Click the green “W” button on the toolbar to activate the Document Viewer

·        Click the “New Excel” button

 

 

·        Set the “Select records” dropdown to your requirement (e.g. “Current set, all records” as shown above)

·        Set the “Data field set” dropdown to your set called “Export Contacts”, as described above

·        Click “OK”

 

 

·        Save the resulting Excel spreadsheet, like that shown above, in the root of your local hard drive as a “Text (Tab delimited) (*.txt)” file, e.g. as “Contacts.txt”, as shown below

 

 

Be Consistent!

Because you’ll probably want to repeat this process on a number of occasions you should always use the same Data Set in Durell (e.g. “Export Contacts”, as described above) so that the resulting Excel file has the same columns in it, and always save the Excel spreadsheet as the same type with the same name (e.g. as C:\Contacts.txt) so that Outlook recognises it and automatically associates the Durell fields with its own (e.g. automatically associates the Durell “Search Name” field with its one called “Last Name”). The first time you load the data into Outlook you’ll have to set-up these associations (i.e. via the button in Outlook to “Map field names”, but thereafter it’ll be done automatically, as follows…

 

Step 2 – Import into Outlook

On the menu line in Outlook (top left) select…

·        “File” then “Import and Export”

·        Click “Import from another program or file” (this is the action, as illustrated below)

·        Click “Next”

 

 

·        Click “Tab Separated Values (Windows)” - this is the type of file to import, as shown below

·        Click “Next”

 

 

·        Use the “Browse” button to locate your saved spreadsheet, e.g. C:\Contacts.txt

·        Click the option to “Replace duplicates with items imported, as shown below

·        Click “Next”

 

 

·        Click “Contacts” - this is the folder in which to import the spreadsheet data

·        Click “Next”

 

 

·        The first time you complete this process you must click “Map Custom Fields”, as fully described in a separate section below

·        Click “Finish” to load the data and thus complete the process

 

 

·        Your Windows “Address Book” and Outlook’s “Contacts” folder should now look like those illustrated below.

 

 

 

Map Custom Fields

The first time you run this process you’ll need to tell Outlook how to receive the data from the Durell spreadsheet, for example that the value in the Durell data field called “Search Name” should be saved in the Outlook data field called “Last Name”. The thirteen associations you need to specify are listed in the table below…

 

Durell Field Name

Outlook Field name

 

 

Record

Other Phone

Search Name

Last Name

Address1: Line1

E-mail Display Name

Address1: Line2

Home Street

Address1: Line3

Home Street 2

Address1: Line4

Home Street 3

Address1: Line5

Home City

Address1: Line6

Home State

PostCode1

Home Postal Code

Phone 1

Home Phone

PhoneWork 1

Business Phone

PhoneMobile 1

Mobile Phone

E-Mail

E-mail Address

 

To do this, as shown below…

·        click the “Clear Map” button

·        in the right-hand “Outlook” window click the “+” sign next to “Name” so you can see the field called “Last Name” (n.b. the “+” sign will then change to a “-” )

·        click on the “Search Name” field in the left window and drag it to the right side of “Last Name” in the right Window

 

 

·        scroll down the right window till you see “Home Address”

·        in the right-hand window click the “+” sign next to “Home Address” so you can see all of the Home fields (n.b. the “+” sign will then change to a “-” )

·        click on “Address1: Line2” in the left window and drag it to the right side of “Home Street” in the right Window

·        repeat this process for all the Durell address fields except “Address1: Line1”, as shown below

 

 

·        scroll down the right window till you see “Other Phone”

·        click “Record” in the left window and drag it to the right side of “Other Phone”

 

It’s essential to save the Durell record number in Outlook so that if any details (e.g. e-mail address, phone numbers, etc) get updated in Outlook they can subsequently be returned to the correct client in the Durell database. As the “Other Phone” field in Outlook will probably not otherwise be needed, it provides a place to store the Durell record number.

 

·        similarly link the remaining Durell phone fields to the Outlook ones

 

 

·        scroll down the right window till you see “E-mail”

·        in the right-hand window click the “+” sign next to “E-mail” so you can see all of the E-mail fields (n.b. the “+” sign will then change to a “-” )

·        click “E-mail” in the left window and drag it to the right side of “E-mail Address”

·        click on “Address1: Line1” in the left window and drag it to the right side of “E-mail Display Name” in the right Window

 

 

·        click “OK”

 

Provided you always use the same import file from the same location, Outlook should thereafter “remember” these associations and you shouldn’t need to repeat this mapping.