Microsoft KB Archive/166380

= OL97: Error Converting Outlook Contacts to Schedule+ =

Article ID: 166380

Article Last Modified on 1/19/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Outlook 97 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q166380



SYMPTOMS
When importing Microsoft Outlook 97 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.

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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, export only those fields that can be imported into Schedule+. Then import the file into Microsoft Excel for an interim cleanup step. In Microsoft Excel, remove any empty date fields and any completely unused columns.



To Export Contacts From Outlook
 On Outlook's, File menu click Import and Export. Click "Export to a File" and click Next. Click the Contact folder you want to export and click Next. Click "Comma Separated Values (Windows)" and click Next. Type a path and file name for the file to be exported and click Next. Click "Map Custom Fields...".</li> Click Clear Map.</li>  Drag the following fields from the left pane to the right pane: <pre class="fixed_text">     Anniversary Assistant's Name Assistant's Phone Birthday Business City Business Country Business Phone Business Phone2 Business Postal Code Business State Business Street (NOTE: Not "Business Address") Company Department Business Fax or Home Fax or Other Fax (NOTE: Schedule+ only     supports one "fax" field) First Name Home City Home Country Home Phone Home Phone 2 Home Postal Code Home State Home Street (NOTE: Not "Home Address") Last Name Mobile Phone Notes Pager Private Spouse Title User 1 User 2 User 3 User 4 NOTE: If User 1, User 2, User 3 and User 4 are not used in Outlook, any other four fields may be substituted. </li> Click OK and Finish.</li></ol>

NOTE: Outlook stores these settings for the specific format and export item type, in this case "Comma Separated Values (Windows)" and Contact items. Subsequent exports using this same format and item type will already have the same mapped fields.

To Import and Manipulate Contacts in Microsoft Excel

 * 1) On Microsoft Excel's 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, empty.
 * 6) Click Replace All.
 * 7) 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 to Schedule+

 * 1) On the Schedule+ File menu, point to Import and click Text.
 * 2) Type or Browse to the file name to be imported, then 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.

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