Importing from Excel

[Daj0pe]

Hey All.

I'm new to Act!, but familiar with Excel, & Access.

I have an excel spreadsheet, with a customer database on it, some with companies some without.

What i'm wanting to do, is import all data, if there is a company, make it relevant through the company section. I've designed my layout, with applicable fields however i've hit some hurdles;

In Access you need a Primary Key.. is this the same with act?
How can i import, so the company thing works fine?
Is Act really that hard?

thanks all

 

[GLComputing]

I'll assume ACT! 8 or 9?

The only way to import from Excel and create company records is to use the itImport add-on

http://www.glcomputing.com.au/main.php?prodid=57&s=1

Regards,
Mike Lazarus
ACT! Evangelist
GL Computing, Aust

http://www.GLComputing.com.au

 

[SAMS95]

I believe that this should be easy to do without any add-ons.

Assumption: You have an excel spreadsheet with a header row and a bunch of contacts underneath, some with company, some without.

The first thing you must do is save the excel sheet as a .csv.

Then use the File>import function of ACT. The menus will talk you through. The most critical part is matching your header names to ACT! names - its a pain if you get this wrong, so take your time.

You would do a company import first. THEN a second import for contacts. The one thing ACT! doesn't do well is link the contact to the company. If you've matched fields correctly then ACT will insert the company name but not link the two together in ACT!. You have to press the ... button for each contact where it lists the company name.

That is a very skeletal overview - give it a go and report any difficulties.

 

[Melagan]

I advise Dynamic Company Membership to make linking contacts to companies much easier.


~Melagan
______
"It's never too late to become what you might have been.

 

[GLComputing]

One of the good things with itImport is that it can automatically create the companies and link the contacts as it's doing the import.

Regards,
Mike Lazarus
ACT! Evangelist
GL Computing, Aust

http://www.GLComputing.com.au

 

[lani0310]

I have just imported companies followed by customers but now have around 800 to link together!

 

[GLComputing]

Which is why I use itImport

Regards,
Mike Lazarus
ACT! Evangelist
GL Computing, Aust

http://www.GLComputing.com.au

 

[GLComputing]

Melegan,

Did you try another d'load of itImport? Did it make a difference?

Regards,
Mike Lazarus
ACT! Evangelist
GL Computing, Aust

http://www.GLComputing.com.au