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Importing

Exporting
Sharing Lists
Preferences
Printing
List of commands
Phonomatic
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Questions & Answers
Glossary
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Importing

Importing in Carnet is very flexible and accomodating. It can accept nearly any format, as long as the text is properly structured with delimiting characters separating the fields and the records. Usually, <tab> separates fields and <return> separates records.

Every database, spreadsheet or address book, mostly any program can export its data as tab-delimited text. If your address list is in another program, it is highly probable that you can easily export it as text and import the text in Carnet.

To export your address list as a text file, see the user's manual of the program. It may be as simple as choosing 'Save As...' and selecting a 'Text File' or 'Tabs' file type.

To import the text file in Carnet, choose Open... in the File menu, then select the Text option.

Importing a Tab-Delimited Text File

After selecting the file you wish to import, you must tell Carnet which characters are used to separate fields and records (usually tab and return):

Since addresses and notes can contain returns, it is necessary to change it to a different character in the exported file, to avoid confusion with the return used as records separator.

The Addresses HyperCard stack contains an export script, in which such returns within fields are converted to a '...' character. If the imported text file has been created with this script, you must use the '...' instead of '¶'. Type option-semicolon to obtain the ellipsis '...' character, do not enter three dots.

Then, a second dialog lets you decide which fields you want to import, and link the fields in the file with the fields in Carnet:

The left side shows a record from the imported file. The Previous and Next buttons let you navigate in the file to identify all its fields.

There is no need to sweep the entire file with the Next button. These buttons are here only to help you find out about fields contents. Their use is optional.

The right side shows the fields in Carnet. You must create links to tell Carnet in which field to put the imported data.

To create a link, click a dot • or a field, then drag the link to the other field.

To cut a link, click on it. To cut all links at once, click the Cut All Links button.

The fields that are not linked to a field in Carnet are not imported.

You can link several fields to the same field in Carnet. This will be useful for notes and addresses, as shown above.

Importing is very fast. Nevertheless, it will be even faster if the imported file is more or less sorted as it will appear in Carnet.

Merging Lists

When opening a list (or importing text), you can choose to merge it with the current list instead of opening it in a new window. To do that, simply click the Merge with Current List option in the Open... dialog box.

Fields Default Values

Certains fields are treated in a particular manner while importing:

• The label of a number is automatically deleted if the number is empty.
• The zone field only accepts 0 (ASCII $30) for 'In-house', 1 for 'Local Zone', 2 for 'Interzone', 3 for 'International' and 4 for 'Internet'.
• The 'List by name' and 'List by company' fields are actually the two arrows in the list. Only 0 and 1 are accepted (1 = checked).

If these fields are not linked to the imported file, they are filled with the default values as defined in Carnet's Preferences.