Importing Contacts into Goldmine via Excel 2000-2003

 Introduction

There are two stages to follow when importing records into GoldMine from an Excel data source. The first is the preparation of the data in Excel, and the second is the using the import feature of GoldMine. This guide should outline the key steps and help you understand the process.

 Please note:  Excel 2007 users will not have the ability to save to dBase and therefore this article is not relavant to you. Please stay tuned for a new article coming soon on how to import from Excel 2007 into GoldMine.

1. Preparing the Data

GoldMine can’t directly import records from an Excel spreadsheet; it must be saved as a Dbase IV format. Follow the steps below to prepare the data prior to import into GoldMine.

1. Load the source data into Excel.

2. Change the field labels to match GoldMines field names that the column data will be imported into. Remove any underscores or spaces in the labels. Add labels if there are none and no label should begin with a number. This will save time and makes things simpler later on.  Below is a listing of the standard fields GoldMine allows data to be imported into.

3. Click on the top-left corner of the worksheet as shown in the image below to hilight the entire worksheet.

4. All the data in the each field needs to be displayed, before saving as a Dbase file. After following step 3, select  Format >> Column >> AutoFit Selection as shown. This will automatically adjust the column widths to display the cells entire contents. It is crucial that this is done or the data will be truncated.

5. You will notice that in the example the entire company name is now visible. Before saving, select only the area of data that needs to be imported. In the example the area of the data is hi-lighted before the import. This is another crucial step of data preparation, failure to select only the columns  and rows that you want to import will cause the import to try to import empty records into the database.

6. Select Save As from the file menu. Specify a name for the file and change the file type on the ‘save as type’ to DBF 4 (dbase IV)

7. When this box appears click OK. This explains that the Dbase file format only supports one data sheet, so it is important to select save on the correct worksheet.

8. Click on Yes when this prompt appears. Finally close any Excel worksheets. Excel will prompt you to save the DBF file again, select No.

2. Importing the Data

The final stage is to use GoldMine’s Import Wizard to import the data into the database. The wizard will import the data into the currently opened database; therefore ensure you have opened the correct database before beginning the import. Because you will be  making changes to your data it is very IMPORTANT that you backup your data before the import. First Direct Corp. cannot be held responsible for loss of data.

1. Select Tools >> Import/Export Wizard >> Import Contact Records… from the  menu in GoldMine, ensure that you have open the correct database that you want to import into!  Click on Next.

2. Select ‘Import a new file’ and select the file format as ‘DBF file dBASE data files’, Click on Next.

3. Specify the location of the dbase file that we just saved, click on the ‘…’ button on the far right to browse for the file, the file must not be open anywhere else otherwise GoldMine will generate an error, Click on Next.

4. The next screen previews the data that you are about to import, click on Next.

5. You now have to map the fields from the data source to the fields in GoldMine. The fields from the data source are displayed on the left hand-side, under ‘Import Fields’.
Because your field names were changed in the source to match those of GoldMine’s you can double click on the fields on the left hand side. This will automatically match the fields with GoldMine’s on the right. The field will appear under the ‘expression’ column on the right-hand side as seen in the example with the address1 field.

6. Selecting a mapped field such as address1 and clicking on properties allows further options to format the data, for example selecting ‘convert to proper case’ will capitalise only the first letter of each separate word. It is also possible to apply Dbase expressions to further qualify the data.

7. If you want to save the settings that you have just made for the import click on ‘Yes’ and then enter a profile name, you will be able to use the same mappings again without having to configure them. To use this profile you would select ‘Import a new file using an existing profile’ on the first page of the import wizard (step 2).

8. Once you are happy with everything click on Finish to begin the import. The records will then be added to the  current database, although it is not strictly necessary it is advisable to perform a pack and rebuild of the database after import has completed.

Note: If you watch the Process Monitor in GoldMine, you will see the progress of the import. 

GoldMine Import Fields

This is a list of the standard GoldMine (Contact1) fields that can be imported into, in addition to these are the (Contact2) User Defined Fields, the fields in the Fields Tab.

address1, address2, address3, actionon, callbackon,  callbackat, closedate, callbackfreq, city, contact, comments, company, createby, country, createat, department, createon, dear, email address, ext1, ext2, ext3, ext4, fax, key1, key2, key3, key4, key5, lastatmpat, lastconton, lastatmpon, lastcontat, lasttime, lastdate, lastname, meettimeat, lastuser, meetdateon, notes, mergecodes, nextaction, phone1, phone2, phone3, source, prevresult, secr, zip, state, title

Notice to Users – Please back up your data before experimenting with any sort of automated routines. No representations or warranties, expressly or implicitly, of any kind are made by or with respect to anything in this report. In no event shall First Direct Corp. be liable for any incidental, indirect, special or consequential damages out of or related to this report or any use thereof, even if First Direct Corp.  has been advised, knew or should have known of the possibility of such damages.

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