Unable to import Contact data from Excel workbook. Solution.

  • Thread starter Thread starter LB
  • Start date Start date
L

LB

I don't want to sound arrogant, but right now I am extremely irritated
with what I view as second-rate software.

My time is valuable!


SUMMARY OF WHAT I DID TO IMPORT CONTACTS DATA INTO MS-OUTLOOK 2002
FROM ANOTHER APP/LOCATION
I exported my MS-Outlook 2002 Contacts info into a
comma-separated-values (Windows) file [I did this to preserve existing
contact information and to have all the fields within the MS-Outlook
Contacts data structure].

I opened the CSV file in MS-Excel, added and moved things around,
saved the work done in MS-Excel to a comma-separated-values (Windows)
file, and imported the comma-separated-values (Windows) file back into
MS-Outlook 2002.

Before using the CSV export-import method, I exported my MS-Outlook
2002 Contacts info to a Microsoft Excel file. It didn't work; every
time I imported the MS-Excel file back into MS-Outlook 2002, the
Contacts view was empty.


CONTEXT
I am not a high-level talker. I've had my head into everything from
funky low-level-recompiled-driver installations on UNIX to VC++ to MFC
to Win32 to sockets programming to VBScript-and-ADO-on-IIS to perl to
java-on-tomcat, and a dozen other frameworks and paradigms. If I
struggled with a simple Contacts import into MS-Outlook 2002, how much
more the non-technical sales rep., in the field, trying to move a
simple contacts list into Microsoft Outlook 2002?

I posted this so that someone else doesn't waste their time, as I
foolishly did.

Hope this is useful.

LB
 
I don't want to sound arrogant, but right now I am extremely irritated
with what I view as second-rate software.

My time is valuable!


SUMMARY OF WHAT I DID TO IMPORT CONTACTS DATA INTO MS-OUTLOOK 2002
FROM ANOTHER APP/LOCATION
I exported my MS-Outlook 2002 Contacts info into a
comma-separated-values (Windows) file [I did this to preserve existing
contact information and to have all the fields within the MS-Outlook
Contacts data structure].

I opened the CSV file in MS-Excel, added and moved things around,
saved the work done in MS-Excel to a comma-separated-values (Windows)
file, and imported the comma-separated-values (Windows) file back into
MS-Outlook 2002.

Before using the CSV export-import method, I exported my MS-Outlook
2002 Contacts info to a Microsoft Excel file. It didn't work; every
time I imported the MS-Excel file back into MS-Outlook 2002, the
Contacts view was empty.


CONTEXT
I am not a high-level talker. I've had my head into everything from
funky low-level-recompiled-driver installations on UNIX to VC++ to MFC
to Win32 to sockets programming to VBScript-and-ADO-on-IIS to perl to
java-on-tomcat, and a dozen other frameworks and paradigms. If I
struggled with a simple Contacts import into MS-Outlook 2002, how much
more the non-technical sales rep., in the field, trying to move a
simple contacts list into Microsoft Outlook 2002?

I posted this so that someone else doesn't waste their time, as I
foolishly did.

Hope this is useful.

LB
Click to expand...
Did the Outlook 2002 wizard offer mapping of the imported fields?

Beemer
 
Beemer said:
Did the Outlook 2002 wizard offer mapping of the imported fields?

Beemer
Click to expand...

It did. However, since the structure of the file being imported had
been created by MS-Outlook 2002 only 10 minutes prior (and I complied
with the structure of that file, in terms of data position), I chose
not to "Map Custom Fields..." It didn't make sense that the human
would have to manually re-map the import data.

I'll have a look at the wizard again.

Thanks for your feedback.

LB
 
The operative sentences in your post are as follows:
Before using the CSV export-import method, I exported my MS-Outlook
2002 Contacts info to a Microsoft Excel file. It didn't work; every
time I imported the MS-Excel file back into MS-Outlook 2002, the
Contacts view was empty.
Click to expand...

If you didn't create a "named range" in Excel before you tried to import
from the XLS file - then no data would have been picked up and hence - your
contact folder would be empty. The use of "named ranges" are both a blessing
and a pain depending on our perspective and requirement. Using "named
ranges" when importing from Excel allows you to have your data located
anywhere on a spreadsheet instead of tieing it to the beginning of the
worksheet. Unfortunately, far too many people don't need/do that and are not
aware of the "named range" requirement. Nothing wrong with the software -
just the way it works.

Karl
--
___________________________________
Karl Timmermans - The Claxton Group

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

LB said:
I don't want to sound arrogant, but right now I am extremely irritated
with what I view as second-rate software.

My time is valuable!


SUMMARY OF WHAT I DID TO IMPORT CONTACTS DATA INTO MS-OUTLOOK 2002
FROM ANOTHER APP/LOCATION
I exported my MS-Outlook 2002 Contacts info into a
comma-separated-values (Windows) file [I did this to preserve existing
contact information and to have all the fields within the MS-Outlook
Contacts data structure].

I opened the CSV file in MS-Excel, added and moved things around,
saved the work done in MS-Excel to a comma-separated-values (Windows)
file, and imported the comma-separated-values (Windows) file back into
MS-Outlook 2002.

Before using the CSV export-import method, I exported my MS-Outlook
2002 Contacts info to a Microsoft Excel file. It didn't work; every
time I imported the MS-Excel file back into MS-Outlook 2002, the
Contacts view was empty.


CONTEXT
I am not a high-level talker. I've had my head into everything from
funky low-level-recompiled-driver installations on UNIX to VC++ to MFC
to Win32 to sockets programming to VBScript-and-ADO-on-IIS to perl to
java-on-tomcat, and a dozen other frameworks and paradigms. If I
struggled with a simple Contacts import into MS-Outlook 2002, how much
more the non-technical sales rep., in the field, trying to move a
simple contacts list into Microsoft Outlook 2002?

I posted this so that someone else doesn't waste their time, as I
foolishly did.

Hope this is useful.

LB
Click to expand...
 
Beemer said:
Did the Outlook 2002 wizard offer mapping of the imported fields?

Beemer
Click to expand...

I visited "Map Custom Fields..." All fields were mapped except Email
(all three), Lagnuage and Manager Name. Not sure why this is the case.


Karl Timmermans said:
If you didn't create a "named range" in Excel before you tried to import
from the XLS file - then no data would have been picked up and hence - your
contact folder would be empty. The use of "named ranges" are both a blessing
and a pain depending on our perspective and requirement. Using "named
ranges" when importing from Excel allows you to have your data located
anywhere on a spreadsheet instead of tieing it to the beginning of the
worksheet. Unfortunately, far too many people don't need/do that and are not
aware of the "named range" requirement. Nothing wrong with the software -
just the way it works.
Click to expand...

Named ranges didn't even occur to me. Thanks for the feedback.

LB
 
I am similarly irritated with Outlook because cannot reverse an Export from
Outlook to CSV. Before I did the export, only the contact email address
(e-mail address removed) appeares in the E-mail field, and a name in the the "Display
as:" field.

The word SMTP comes up if I double click the E-mail field for editing, when
a grayed-out "E-mail type:" shows it to be SMTP. I exported my Outlook 2002
Contacts to a CSV file. In the column headed "E-mail" Outlook 2002 puts
three items:

1. E-mail address
2. Then the word "SMTP" (without quotes)
3. And then the "Display as:" field (usually the full name and the
address again)

These appear all in the one column, NOT IN three separate columns. It seems
that the "Address", SMTP, and "Display as:" become one field. When I
re-imported the 856 contacts back into Outlook, only modifying the Business
FAX column to include an aphabetic character so that there are not two
entries for each contact, all the Email addresses are messed
up. E-mail entry nows contains all three of the fields above, NOT just the
E-mail field.

Why can't Outlook 2002 import the same CSV file it created? How can I
recover my E-mail addresses?

Jim Henderson


Karl Timmermans said:
The operative sentences in your post are as follows:
Before using the CSV export-import method, I exported my MS-Outlook
2002 Contacts info to a Microsoft Excel file. It didn't work; every
time I imported the MS-Excel file back into MS-Outlook 2002, the
Contacts view was empty.
Click to expand...

If you didn't create a "named range" in Excel before you tried to import
from the XLS file - then no data would have been picked up and hence - your
contact folder would be empty. The use of "named ranges" are both a blessing
and a pain depending on our perspective and requirement. Using "named
ranges" when importing from Excel allows you to have your data located
anywhere on a spreadsheet instead of tieing it to the beginning of the
worksheet. Unfortunately, far too many people don't need/do that and are not
aware of the "named range" requirement. Nothing wrong with the software -
just the way it works.

Karl
--
___________________________________
Karl Timmermans - The Claxton Group

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

LB said:
I don't want to sound arrogant, but right now I am extremely irritated
with what I view as second-rate software.

My time is valuable!


SUMMARY OF WHAT I DID TO IMPORT CONTACTS DATA INTO MS-OUTLOOK 2002
FROM ANOTHER APP/LOCATION
I exported my MS-Outlook 2002 Contacts info into a
comma-separated-values (Windows) file [I did this to preserve existing
contact information and to have all the fields within the MS-Outlook
Contacts data structure].

I opened the CSV file in MS-Excel, added and moved things around,
saved the work done in MS-Excel to a comma-separated-values (Windows)
file, and imported the comma-separated-values (Windows) file back into
MS-Outlook 2002.

Before using the CSV export-import method, I exported my MS-Outlook
2002 Contacts info to a Microsoft Excel file. It didn't work; every
time I imported the MS-Excel file back into MS-Outlook 2002, the
Contacts view was empty.


CONTEXT
I am not a high-level talker. I've had my head into everything from
funky low-level-recompiled-driver installations on UNIX to VC++ to MFC
to Win32 to sockets programming to VBScript-and-ADO-on-IIS to perl to
java-on-tomcat, and a dozen other frameworks and paradigms. If I
struggled with a simple Contacts import into MS-Outlook 2002, how much
more the non-technical sales rep., in the field, trying to move a
simple contacts list into Microsoft Outlook 2002?

I posted this so that someone else doesn't waste their time, as I
foolishly did.

Hope this is useful.

LB
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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