BCM 2013 importing contacts from CSV file

[wallisellener]

Hello

I'm trying to import contacts from a .csv file.

After following the import steps and selecting the .csv file (with the option not to import duplicate entries) I have to perform the mapping.

The problem is that the columns are not separated. In the "Import Field" instead of having several single entries I have one concatenated field: Company;FirstName;LastName;Location and so on.

A possible mapping would be: location -> Company;FirstName;LastName;Location ...

The desired mapping would be (single mapping for each column):
Company -> Company

FirstName -> FirstName.

I assume the .csv file must be changed so that the fields are correctly read before proceeding with the mapping and the import.

Are there any guides on how to properly format the .csv file for import?

Cheers

W

 

[wallisellener]

After several attempts I managed to import contacts from an .csv file.

Unfortunately all the information is mixed up and the contacts appear with the name "no entry" and all the imported information was assigned to the address field.

All the details like name, phone number, location and so on appear in the address field.

Not sure why this is happening since prior to the import I performed a proper mapping.

Is there any way to import without mixing all the infos?

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Can you email me the csv so I can take a look at it? use diane@slipstick.com

 

[wallisellener]

Is there any way to search and select multiple users using a nonstandard field?

For example if I open the user details I have additional fields like "key word" or another field filled with text.

These fields are only visible if I open the user details and don't appear on the general info display.

Is there any special way to index this info and to make it searchable?

 

[wallisellener]

Found a nice guide here: Search your records in Business Contact Manager - Outlook - Office.com

It's exactly what I was looking for!

 

[wallisellener]

According to the above mentioned guide it is possible to create custom reports.

I tried to create various custom reports in order to test this functionality: f.e. a report containing only three columns - the business contact name, email and phone number.

Now I'm trying to export this report to an excel file. The export process it's working but I'm wondering if it's possbile to further customize the exported data.

The excel file containing the export will display the same data like in the report but will also have all other information columns like location, postal code and so on (all info stored in BCM) .

The additional columns will be hidden but it would be nice to have only the three selected columns (the info that I initially selected like in my test report) and no additional hidden columns.

Is this possible ? If yes how?

 

[Forum Admin]

You'd need to use code to restrict it to just specific fields. I just posted a url to a code sample that exports contacts to Excel - http://www.jpsoftwaretech.com/export-outlook-contacts-to-excel/ - it needs tweaked to use the BCM folders - he's using the default folder - Set myContactItems = olNS.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderContacts).Items - instructions on changing it are here: Working with VBA and non-default Outlook Folders - Slipstick Systems

 

[wallisellener]

Thank you but I was hoping for a more "user friendly" solution.

Unfortunately my VBA skills are not my strong point and just executing the VBA script in Excel 2013 is a big challenge.

Additionally the export should be performed after a report is executed in BCM. In the first phase we want to create a new report in order to search contacts using different criterias and in the second phase to export the results.

Any other options left?

 

[Forum Admin]

No, sorry, I'm not aware of any other options.