Microsoft KB Archive/180421

= OL98: Error Converting Outlook Contacts to Schedule+ =

Article ID: 180421

Article Last Modified on 8/13/1999

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Outlook 98 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q180421



SYMPTOMS
When importing Microsoft Outlook 98 Contacts into Microsoft Schedule+ 7.0, you may get one of the following error messages:

The import file has too many fields. Make sure the character you selected to separate the fields matches the separator in the import file and that you select the correct character to surround strings.

-or-

There was a problem importing the file. The problem occurred near line x.



CAUSE
Outlook stores much more information about contacts than Schedule+. If you export the entire Outlook data set, this generates more fields than the Schedule+ importer can handle. Also, if a date field is empty, it is exported as 0/0/00, which is not acceptable to Schedule+.



RESOLUTION
To correct this problem, import the file into Microsoft Excel for an interim cleanup step. In Excel, remove any empty date fields and any completely unused columns.



To Export Contacts From Outlook

 * 1) On the File menu, click Import And Export.
 * 2) Click "Export to a File" and click Next.
 * 3) Click the Contact folder you wish to export and click Next.
 * 4) Click "Comma Separated Values (Windows)" and click Next.
 * 5) Type a path and file name for the file to be exported and click Next.
 * 6) Click OK and Finish.

To Import and Manipulate Contacts in Microsoft Excel

 * 1) On the File menu, click Open.
 * 2) Navigate to the file exported above and click Open.
 * 3) On the Edit menu, click Replace.
 * 4) Type 0/0/00 in Find What.
 * 5) Leave Replace With, blank.
 * 6) Click Replace All.
 * 7) click to select any completely unused columns and on the Edit menu, click Delete.
 * 8) On the File menu, click Close, click Yes, and then click Save to replace the existing file.

To Import Contacts into Schedule+

 * 1) On the File menu, point to Import and click Text.
 * 2) Type or browse to the file name to be imported, and click Next.
 * 3) Click Yes and then click Next.
 * 4) Click Comma, select the quotation mark (") as "character used to surround text fields", and click Next.
 * 5) Click Contact List and click Next.
 * 6) Select types for each field in the incoming file.
 * 7) Click Finish.

NOTE: Once set, Schedule+ retains these settings.

