Contacts imported from excel as .txt file

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Guest

When importing an Excel .cvs file into Outlook Contacts, the resultant
"Contacts" are stored as .txt files and cannot hold format changes or take
attachments. I need to attach files/items to each and highlight
(bold/underline) text in the "Notes" field. Some contacts, when imported,
come in stored as .rtf format and I can edit them. How do I control whether
a contact is imported as a .txt or .rtf format??? It is driving me crazy.

Thanks
 
Bogey1947 said:
When importing an Excel .cvs file
Click to expand...

I think you mean .csv (comma-separated values)
into Outlook Contacts, the resultant
"Contacts" are stored as .txt files and cannot hold format changes or
take attachments.
Click to expand...

How exactly did you import? What exactly did you see for each step of the
process?
 
You're correct, I meant CSV. I've done it a hundred times so I'm miffed. I
have a test file, 11 records which was an Excel (xls) file saved as a CSV
file. Then imported and mapped. It works fine and when I open the contacts
individually, I can do a "Save as" and see that the file type is RTF. Hence
I can set format (highlight) and attach files or items (eMails).

However, when I take another file (647 record vendor master) and do exactly
the same thing, the reords come in as .txt file types and cannot be edited.
..rtf type is not even showing or available in the "save as" dialog box.

Very strange.
 
Bogey1947 said:
You're correct, I meant CSV. I've done it a hundred times so I'm
miffed. I have a test file, 11 records which was an Excel (xls) file
saved as a CSV file. Then imported and mapped. It works fine and
when I open the contacts individually, I can do a "Save as" and see
that the file type is RTF. Hence I can set format (highlight) and
attach files or items (eMails).

However, when I take another file (647 record vendor master) and do
exactly the same thing, the reords come in as .txt file types and
cannot be edited. .rtf type is not even showing or available in the
"save as" dialog box.
Click to expand...

I'm very curious why you want to use Save As at all. Once you've imported
the contacts into the Contacts folder, there's no further need to save them.
They're where they belong - the Contacts folder.
 
I really don't want or need to use "save as" but when I could not format and
attach files I tried everything to figure out why. It just happened that I
selected "save as" just to see where it was storng the contacts and noticed
that they were in .txt format. The contacts that can me modified with format
are stored in .rtf format. Hence my dilema. So i am back to teh root
question: What controlls the format when creating contacts from "Import" of
a .CSV file?
 
Bogey1947 said:
I really don't want or need to use "save as" but when I could not
format and attach files I tried everything to figure out why. It
just happened that I selected "save as" just to see where it was
storng the contacts and noticed that they were in .txt format. The
contacts that can me modified with format are stored in .rtf format.
Hence my dilema. So i am back to teh root question: What controlls
the format when creating contacts from "Import" of a .CSV file?
Click to expand...

The "Save As" selection does not tell you how the Contacts are stored in the
Contacts folder. It tells you how the contact record will be store as an
EXTERNAL Windows file system object if you were to save it OUTSIDE of
Outlook.
 
Man I appreciate your dialog and interest in helping, but you are missing the
point. I understand the "save as" issue and I am NOT trying to save
anything. I'm trying to determine why some of my contacts are able to be
modified (i.e. formatted with font highlights; files attached etc.) and some
cannot!!!

In assessing/debugging this dichotomy the only difference between contacts
and/or contact folders created in what appears to be the SAME manner is that
some of the contact records can be “saved as†.rtf files and those that
cannot be modified can only be saved as .txt. This tells me that either the
format or the attributes of the contact records are different. What I am
trying to determine is WHY are they different; and how can I change them???

I know that I can, one at a time, export to a .vcf card format and then
import to a contact folder. When I do that the record format if different
and I can now make the desired changes. If I could batch export to .vcf and
batch import, that would help, but then I loose the “Notes†filed data, as it
does NOT export. That’s the rub since the data field I am trying to modify
is the NOTES field!!!!!

Whew!!!

So again, when and why is the record format different and how can I create
or change it?

If you read back in this thread, you will see that I can import a small
..csv file with the resultant correct contact record attributes allowing
modifications to the Notes Field, but I cannot import a larger file (the one
I need) with the correct resultant record format.

CAN ANYONE OUT THERE HELP ME????? You can call me 281-702-8338
 
Bogey1947 said:
In assessing/debugging this dichotomy the only difference between
contacts and/or contact folders created in what appears to be the
SAME manner is that some of the contact records can be “saved asâ€
.rtf files and those that cannot be modified can only be saved as
.txt. This tells me that either the format or the attributes of the
contact records are different. What I am trying to determine is WHY
are they different; and how can I change them???
Click to expand...

Can you see any differences in the CSV files that you used for the two
imports? Are all the fields defined and labeled identically?
 
OK. I think I finally have it figured out.

If I map any data field, from the .csv file to the Contact's "NOTES" field,
Outlook stores the "record" in a .txt format and we know that the txt format
does not support formatting.

If I leave the "Notes" field blank, Outlook stores the Contact record in a
..rtf format and rtf supports "Office" capabilities, e.g. formatting,
attachments, etc.

OK, so I have to save that information andthe Note field is the only place I
have. Now the questions becomes how can I do that?? Any ideas?
 
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