export/import contacts from Outlook 2003

  • Thread starter Thread starter Joseph O'Brien
  • Start date Start date
J

Joseph O'Brien

I have seen many posts in this group advising that one should NOT use
the import/export feature in Outlook 2003 to import/export contacts
because "data is lost."

Could anyone take a few minutes to elaborate on this? Exactly what is
lost? Does this only apply if sharing contact lists between different
Outlook users, or maybe Microsoft and Outlook? What if I simply need
to get a list of names, phone numbers, addresses from Outlook to, say,
FileMaker Pro, or maybe a SQL database?

Thanks.

Joseph
 
Joseph O'Brien said:
I have seen many posts in this group advising that one should NOT use
the import/export feature in Outlook 2003 to import/export contacts
because "data is lost."
Click to expand...

Posted in at least one of the Outlook newsgroups multiple times. Google
Groups is your friend. Here's a post from 2005:
Could anyone take a few minutes to elaborate on this? Exactly what is
lost? Does this only apply if sharing contact lists between different
Outlook users, or maybe Microsoft and Outlook? What if I simply need
to get a list of names, phone numbers, addresses from Outlook to, say,
FileMaker Pro, or maybe a SQL database?
Click to expand...

It is perfectly appropriate to use export and import when moving data
between Outlook and another application. The injunction against
import/export applies to Outlook-to-Outlook transfers.
 
Just to elaborate a tad on Brian's response for those who may read this
given that the focus of our products is precisely related to
importing/exporting to/from Outlook....

Using import/export (either Outlook's own process or 3rd party products) to
move/copy contacts between different Outlook installs, be it for the same
user on different machines or different users, is beyond a doubt the least
preferable way to accomplish the task Much easier, faster, safer, less
cumbersome to:
a) make a copy of the PST file that contains the contacts or
b) create a new PST file and copy the contacts to a new contacts
folder in that PST file
***caveat here being the number of contacts that need to be
"copied or moved" - highlighting very large blocks of data within
Outlook can potentially introduce a variety of other
issues/problems
In short - have never found a reason to use import/export when going from
PST -> PST or Exchange -> PST. Just as easy to send someone a PST file as it
is a CSV or MS Access mdb file (of course - need to ensure Outlook version
compatibility which is also extremely easy to do).

With Outlook's import/export wizard some of the major issues are.......
1) can't import/export any user-defined fields (i.e. cannot import
(create new) contacts using anything other then the standard message class
2) can't import/export ALL the Outlook standard fields that are
visible in the UI
3) can't export some internal fields that may be value (i.e.
Creation Date/Last Modified Date to name two)
4) text fields will only export the first 255 characters
5) contact "links" will be broken for any links that reference
contacts in the same folder (will be broken regardless for contacts
contained in other folders)
6) when importing data - there is no facility to "update"
pre-existing contacts with new information
etc etc etc

When it comes to other data requirements for use/integration with other
applications - importing/exporting is absolutely the correct approach and
will not result in "lost data" (providing the import/export product has the
required capabilities). There are endless scenarios where
importing/exporting is the only workable solution but unfortunately there
are way too many messages containing a "blanket" statement that
import/export causes potential problems and should never be used without any
clarification. As a result, far too many people are left confused and wonder
about the same question you posed.

If the only fields you need to export are those listed in your message, then
Outlook's export capability will more then serve your needs.

Karl

PS - Above response is applicable regardless of Outlook version
PPS - For the purposes of this response, not referring to or addressing
scenarios where multiple users want to <simultaneously> use the same contact
data without Exchange.

___________________________________________________
Karl Timmermans - The Claxton Group
ContactGenie - Importer 1.3 / DataPorter 2.0 / Exporter
"Power contact importers/exporters for MS Outlook '2000/2007"
http://www.contactgenie.com
 
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