Outlook 2003 with BCM add-in

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Thorbjorn Sundboe - 29 Jan 2004 11:54 GMT

Hi,

I run Outlook 2003 with the Business Contact Manager add-in. I have done
some imports into this database
from Excel, and its behavior is strange. Here are some of the
issues/questions:

- Import into the field "Primary Contact" does not work - the field is just
not imported, but it appears as selectable in the "Map fields" dialog

- Same problem as above for the fields Account state and Account status

- Is there a way to import several fields from the source into one field in
the database. I am referring to the destination field "Comment" which has
support for carriage return

- Is there a way to create a new history item like a "Business Note" or
"Phone Log" during an import, taking info from a field in the source file?

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers, Thorbjorn

Reply to this Message

Sue Mosher [MVP] - 29 Jan 2004 14:25 GMT

Comments inline.

> I run Outlook 2003 with the Business Contact Manager add-in. I have done
> some imports into this database
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> - Import into the field "Primary Contact" does not work - the field is just
> not imported, but it appears as selectable in the "Map fields" dialog

I'm not surprised, since this is the field that sets the database link
between contacts and accounts.

> - Same problem as above for the fields Account state and Account status

Did the source file contain values for those fields that match the available
values on the drop-down lists on the BCM account form?

> - Is there a way to import several fields from the source into one field in
> the database. I am referring to the destination field "Comment" which has
> support for carriage return

Maybe if you concatenate them in the source document. Definitely if you
write your own import code.

> - Is there a way to create a new history item like a "Business Note" or
> "Phone Log" during an import, taking info from a field in the source file?

I don't think so. Like Primary Contact, it's a database relationship issue.
What you can do is import those history items into some other Outlook
folder, like Journal, then link them manually with the BCM contact or
account.

Signature

Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

Reply to this Message

Thorbjorn Sundboe - 29 Jan 2004 15:59 GMT

Thanks again for helpful advice. See inline:

> > - Import into the field "Primary Contact" does not work - the field is
> just
> > not imported, but it appears as selectable in the "Map fields" dialog
>
> I'm not surprised, since this is the field that sets the database link
> between contacts and accounts.

Eh, but it cannot possibly satisfy the business requirements of most
businesses that this is not importable, it certainly does not satisfy mine.
Maybe a workaround is to import these separately as business contacts and
link them manually?

> > - Same problem as above for the fields Account state and Account status
>
> Did the source file contain values for those fields that match the available
> values on the drop-down lists on the BCM account form?

I discovered that the values of these fields are unchangable in BCM, this
explains it. I had other source values.

> > - Is there a way to import several fields from the source into one field
> in
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
> folder, like Journal, then link them manually with the BCM contact or
> account.

I'll try that, might be worth the effort.

Cheers Thorbjorn

Reply to this Message

Sue Mosher [MVP] - 29 Jan 2004 17:16 GMT

You certainly would need to have the business contacts in place first
anyway. Manual linking will work just fine.

Signature

Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

> > > - Import into the field "Primary Contact" does not work - the field is
> > just
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> Maybe a workaround is to import these separately as business contacts and
> link them manually?

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