How to: Import records into the FaxNow! Phonebook

How to: Import records into the FaxNow! Phonebook

Doc No. 000262
Product FaxNow 2000, FaxNow 3, FaxNow 3.1, FaxNow 5
Category Phonebook

Issue
This document describes how to import a contact list or database into the FaxNow! phonebook.

With FaxNow 5 Service Release 3, please refer to the documentation regarding CSV Import Wizard.

With FaxNow 2000 Service Release 3, please refer to the documentation regarding CSV Import Wizard.

Solution
When sending faxes, FaxNow! users may wish to use the FaxNow! Phone Book to select the fax recipient/s. However, if you have an alternative database which holds all or some of your records (i.e. a customer database) then manually inputting these records into the Phone Book can be a painstaking task. For this reason, the FaxNow! Phone Book has an importing facility which allows database records to be easily imported into the Phone Book.

The file format recognised by the Phone Book when importing database records is Comma Separated Variable (CSV) file format. The database file you wish to import should be in this format.

The most suitable method of importing records into the Phone Book would be to follow these simple steps:-

* From your database 'export' the records into a spreadsheet which can save files into CSV format (most spreadsheet applications can do this, namely MS Excel and MS Works) or

* From within a spreadsheet application 'import' your database records into the spreadsheet.

Once you have your records in the spreadsheet the next step is to ensure that each database field is in the correct column. This ensures that when you import the data into the FaxNow! Phone Book the records will appear in the correct format (i.e. each record field corresponds to the correct Phone Book field).

Your database records should be laid out in the following format:-Extras

Typically, each Field Number will correspond with a Spreadsheet column. Field 1 (Title) will correspond to the Spreadsheet Column A. In addition, if you are importing a file that is missing any of the column information, you MUST use blank columns otherwise the Import process will not complete.

The 'Group' fields value (I.e. 8000) is the hexadecimal representation of the group number (I.e. 8000 represents Group number 1).

If you already have groups defined for your records you may wish to import these as well. When importing the group field, the FaxNow! Phone Book will only recognise a numerical value and will try to convert into a group number.

For example, if you had the records:

The groups in their current form could not be imported into the FaxNow! Phone Book. The group names have to be converted into numerical order. I.e.:

The group number then has to be converted into its hexadecimal value (I.e. group 1 is represented by 8000 (hexadecimal value)). This value will be placed in the group field in your spreadsheet, so your spreadsheet would look something like this:

For a list of the group fields and their hexadecimal values please contact RedRock Technical Support.

Now your spreadsheet containing your records can be saved and imported into the FaxNow! Phone Book. Using the pull-down menus select 'Save'. From the Save window that appears select the file type to be of type 'CSV' or 'Comma Separated Variable', enter the drive, directory and filename as required and select OK.

Now load the FaxNow! Phone Book Application.

Select 'File' - 'Import' - 'ANSI Records' from the pull-down menus.

Locate your saved CSV spreadsheet file and select OK.

If you have any existing records in your FaxNow! Phone Book you will be prompted whether you wish to remove the existing Phone Book entries or whether you wish to merge the existing entries with the records you are about to import. Selecting 'No' will merge your current Phone Book with the imported records. Selecting 'Yes' will delete any existing Phone Book entries and replace them with your imported records.

If you assigned records to groups (I.e. filled in the group field in your spreadsheet) then you may wish to restore the group names back to their original names (I.e. Convert group '1' back to group 'Sales'). To do this, simply select 'Edit' - 'Group' from the pull-down menus. From within the 'Phone Book Group' window, highlight the first group you wish to rename. Once highlighted, select 'Rename' and enter the new group name and select OK. Repeat this process until you have renamed your groups as required.

Your importation of records into the FaxNow! Phone Book is now complete!