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Guide to Importing Outlook Tasks, Meetings, and ContactsTable of Contents
Download printable PDF version of "Guide to Importing Outlook Tasks, Meetings, and Contacts" HERE IntroductionFCmobilelife provides a feature for importing Tasks, Meetings and Contacts from Outlook. This document describes how to do these imports. Before going into the details, it is helpful to understand a high level view of the process. You begin by creating an export of your Tasks, Meetings, or Contacts from Outlook. Outlook can export data in a variety of formats, but you need Outlook to create a CSV (Comma Separated Value) text file for items that you want to import into FCmobilelife. Tasks, Meeting, and Contacts are imported separately (from separate export files that you create with Outlook). After you have an export file, then there is a program on the FCmobilelife website that allows you to upload that file to the FCmobilelife server. When the file gets to the server, a program there reads it and imports the data into your FCmobilelife account. You can import some or all of the items contained in an export file. You are shown the data before the final import step so you can verify the data and select the items you want to import. After the import your Outlook Meetings will appear as FCmobilelife Schedule items and your Outlook Tasks will appear as FCmobilelife Tasks. Contacts are handled differently. Because FCmobilelife is a subscription service, the import process cannot register your contacts that do not have FCmobilelife accounts. Also, since FCmobilelife uses email addresses to identify users, the import process will only work for your Outlook contacts that have email address in your Outlook contact book. The Outlook Contact import works with the following steps:
The rest of this document covers the import process in more detail. Creating an Outlook Export File The first step is to create an Outlook export file in CSV format. This guide will show the steps to create a meeting export file (task export files are done in a very similar fashion). In Outlook, select File-Import and Export… to bring up the following dialog box.
Click on Next to bring up the next screen.
Leave “Comma Separated Values (Windows)” selected and click on Next to bring up the next screen.
To export meetings, leave “Calendar” selected (to export tasks, select “Tasks” instead, or select Contacts to export Contacts). Click on Next to bring up the next screen.
Use this screen to enter or browse for the name and location of your export file. Make a note of the name and location since you will need to know this when you are ready to do the import. Click on Next to go on to the next screen.
Click on Finish to start the export process. Do not use the Map Custom Fields function since this will produce an export file with different fields (and will probably not be usable by the FCmobilelife import program which expects the default output fields).
You can use this screen to limit the range of meetings that you are going to export. As this dialog box says, when you export recurring meetings or tasks from Outlook, they are turned into separate (disconnected) items in the export file. As such they are not imported into FCmobilelife as recurring items, but rather as independent items. Select OK to continue. You will see a progress bar indicator until the file is completed. At this point you can exit Outlook and proceed to the FCmobilelife website to import your data. If you want to see more about the export file you have created, go to the Appendix of this document. Notes on Importing into FCmobilelife Importing into FCmobilelife is done by uploading and processing an Outlook export file created as described above. The FCmobilelife import program reads the formats used by Outlook when you export tasks or calendar entries to a CSV file from Outlook. (Note that while the import program is written to work with Outlook data, it will import data from any source that follows the Outlook export file format as described in the Appendix.) It is relatively straightforward to transform CSV exports from other programs into the Outlook format (for example, Excel can be used to do the required transformation). While Outlook exports many fields for task, calendar and contact records (many of which are rarely used, even in Outlook), the import function only uses those that map directly into FCmobilelife fields. The import function produces tasks and schedule actions in FCmobilelife that are sent by the user to the user (other recipients are not imported since we cannot be sure that users’ Outlook contacts will map to their FCmobilelife team members). In general, a task or schedule action imported from Outlook will be created with two text messages. The first comes from the Subject field in Outlook (and this is what is seen in lists in FCmobilelife). The second text message comes from the Outlook Notes or Description fields (if there is Outlook data in these fields). The Notes or Description field from Outlook is truncated after 1000 characters (Outlook meetings in particular can have very long Descriptions which are not easily viewed on the phone clients used in FCmobilelife). Each time you import a set of Outlook tasks or calendar entries, the import program will generate a new set of FCmobilelife tasks and schedules. Thus the import program cannot be used to update actions that you previously imported. Remember that while Outlook supports recurring tasks and calendar entries internally, when it exports these recurring items to a CSV file it exports each instance as an independent item. Thus recurring meetings and tasks from Outlook are imported into FCmobilelife as sets of unconnected schedules and tasks. Using the FCmobilelife Import Program Select the Outlook import icon from the FCmobilelife web client home screen. This will bring up the import program in a separate browser window:
Select either “Import Tasks”, “Import Meetings” or “Check Contacts” to bring up the next screen where you enter the name of your import file. We will first look at the process of importing Tasks. In this shot of that screen a task export file has already been selected with the browse function). Select Upload File to proceed.
The next screen shows a table with the data from your import file (in this example it is a task import). You need to verify the data to be imported and check which tasks you want to import. By default, all items are selected for import. You can click on “Check All” or “Check None” to reset the checkmarks without starting the import. Note that if the data in the table looks strange, you probably have an error in your input file. Cancel the import and verify the format of your import file. See the Appendix for details on the correct format for an Outlook task export file. If the data looks okay and you have selected the tasks you want to import, proceed by selecting the “Import Checked Tasks” button.
The next screen confirms that the import was successful. After this, you should login to FCmobilelife to verify the data in the imported tasks.
The process for importing meetings is very similar, but with somewhat different data fields for meetings. Another difference is that you must specify the time zone that the meetings times are in. Do this with the combo box below the data table (the default selection is US/Eastern). If the data looks correct and you have checked the meetings you want to import and their time zone, click on “Import Checked Meetings” to proceed. Note that the importer will automatically skip input lines without the minimum number of fields. In the screen shot below, line 2 in the input file was skipped.
After the import, check the meetings that have been imported to confirm that the data fields and times have been imported properly. If the times are wrong, you may have set the wrong time zone for the imported meetings. The time zone you enter should be the time zone on the PC that you used to create the Outlook Meeting export file (which may be different from the time zone on the PC that you are using to import the data). From the main screen select “Check Contacts” to bring up the screen where you enter the name of your import file. Select Upload File to proceed. The next screen shows a table with the data from in your import file. The list will only contain contacts from your import file that have email addresses. Note that if the data in the table looks strange, you probably have an error in your input file. Cancel the import and verify the format of your import file. See the Appendix for details on the correct format for an Outlook contact export file. If the data looks okay, proceed by selecting the “Check Contacts” button
The next screen shows which of your contacts are already on your FCmobilelife team. Select Continue to go on to the screen where you can add team members.
This screen shows contacts that are FCmobilelife subscribers who are not on your team. Check the contacts that you want to add to your team and select Continue. These subscribers will be sent an invitation to join your team. After they accept the invitation, they will appear on your list of team members.
This screen shows contacts that are not FCmobilelife subscribers. Check the contacts that you want to invite to subscribe to FCmobilelife. These subscribers will be sent an email invitation from you to use FCmobilelife with either a free or paid subscription. If they subscribe to FCmobilelife, you can add them to your team using the normal Add Contact process in your FCmobilelife phone or web client.
Appendix – Outlook Export Files and Field Mappings Outlook Tasks An Outlook task CSV export file has one line per task (the first line shows the names of the fields in Outlook). Each line has 22 fields separated by commas. The field values are contained in quotes. The importer does not rely on the Outlook field order, instead it reads the first line of the file to find which fields correspond to the fields it needs. The table below shows which fields are needed by the importer (the field names must have exactly the names shown in the first column, but the order in the file does not matter). The specific field mappings for Outlook Tasks are as follows:
Other Notes on Task Importing
Sample Outlook Task Export File Here is what the first few lines of an Outlook task export file look like in CSV format: "Subject","Start Date","Due Date","Reminder On/Off","Reminder Date","Reminder Time","Date Completed","% Complete","Total Work","Actual Work","Billing Information","Categories","Companies","Contacts","Mileage","Notes","Priority","Private","Role","Schedule+ Priority","Sensitivity","Status" "Outlook 2003 task 1",,"10/1/2008","True","10/1/2008","8:00:00 AM",,"0.000","0","0",,,,,,,"Normal","False","",,"Normal","Not Started" "Outlook 2003 task 0",,"9/15/2008","False",,,"9/24/2008","1.000","0","0",,,,,,,"Normal","False","",,"Normal","Complete" "Outlook 2003 task 2",,"10/2/2008","True","10/2/2008","8:00:00 AM",,"0.000","0","0",,,,,,,"Normal","False","",,"Normal","Not Started" Here is a full list of the fields contained in a meeting export file, with the fields numbered.
Outlook Meeting CSV Export Files An Outlook meeting export file one line per meeting (the first line shows the names of the fields in Outlook). Each line has 22 fields separated by commas. The field values are contained in quotes. The importer does not rely on the Outlook field order, instead it reads the first line of the file to find which fields correspond to the fields it needs. The table below shows which fields are needed by the importer (the field names must have exactly the names shown in the first column, but the order in the file does not matter). The specific field mappings for Outlook calendar entries are as follows:
Other Notes on Meeting Importing
Sample Outlook Meeting Export File Here is what the first few lines of an Outlook meeting export file look like in CSV format: "Subject","Start Date","Start Time","End Date","End Time","All day event","Reminder on/off","Reminder Date","Reminder Time","Meeting Organizer","Required Attendees","Optional Attendees","Meeting Resources","Billing Information","Categories","Description","Location","Mileage","Priority","Private","Sensitivity","Show time as" "Drive to Harbor ","7/2/2008","10:30:00 AM","7/2/2008","11:30:00 AM","False","False","7/2/2008","10:15:00 AM",,,,,,,,"",,"Normal","False","Normal","2" "Lunch with Rose Marie","7/2/2008","12:45:00 PM","7/2/2008","1:45:00 PM","False","False","7/2/2008","12:30:00 PM",,,,,,,,"",,"Normal","False","Normal","2" Here is a full list of the fields contained in a meeting export file, with the fields numbered.
Outlook Contact CSV Export Files An Outlook task CSV export file has one line per contact. The first line of the file shows the names of the fields in Outlook. By default, all Outlook contact fields are exported and each line has 92 fields separated by commas. The field values are contained in quotes. The Outlook Contact importer only reads data from three fields: First Name, Last Name, and E-mail Address. The importer does not rely on the Outlook field order, instead it reads the first line of the file to find which fields correspond to the fields it needs. This means that you could do an Outlook export that only exported these three fields. The import does a sanity check on the format of email addresses in your import file. If they fail this test (missing @, bad characters in address, etc.), that line will be skipped. Note that if you want to import contact data from some other source you only need the three fields mentioned above. The first line of the import file should show the exact field names used by Outlook (but the order does not matter). A minimal contact import file would look like this: “First Name”, “Last Name”, “E-mail Address” Sample Outlook Contact Export File Here is what the first few lines of a default Outlook contact export file look like in CSV format: "Title","First Name","Middle Name","Last Name","Suffix","Company","Department","Job Title","Business Street","Business Street 2","Business Street 3","Business City","Business State","Business Postal Code","Business Country","Home Street","Home Street 2","Home Street 3","Home City","Home State","Home Postal Code","Home Country","Other Street","Other Street 2","Other Street 3","Other City","Other State","Other Postal Code","Other Country","Assistant's Phone","Business Fax","Business Phone","Business Phone 2","Callback","Car Phone","Company Main Phone","Home Fax","Home Phone","Home Phone 2","ISDN","Mobile Phone","Other Fax","Other Phone","Pager","Primary Phone","Radio Phone","TTY/TDD Phone","Telex","Account","Anniversary","Assistant's Name","Billing Information","Birthday","Business Address PO Box","Categories","Children","Directory Server","E-mail Address","E-mail Type","E-mail Display Name","E-mail 2 Address","E-mail 2 Type","E-mail 2 Display Name","E-mail 3 Address","E-mail 3 Type","E-mail 3 Display Name","Gender","Government ID Number","Hobby","Home Address PO Box","Initials","Internet Free Busy","Keywords","Language","Location","Manager's Name","Mileage","Notes","Office Location","Organizational ID Number","Other Address PO Box","Priority","Private","Profession","Referred By","Sensitivity","Spouse","User 1","User 2","User 3","User 4","Web Page" "","Jack","","Smith","","","","",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"","0/0/00",,,"0/0/00",,,,,"jacksmith@sco.com","SMTP","Jack Smith (jacksmith@sco.com)",,,,,,,"Unspecified",,,,"J.S.",,"","","",,,,,,,"Normal","False",,,"Normal" "","Janet","","Jones","","","","",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"","0/0/00",,,"0/0/00",,,,,"janetjones@sco.com","SMTP","Janet Jones (janetjones@sco.com)",,,,,,,"Unspecified",,,,"J.J.",,"","","",,,,,,,"Normal","False",,,"Normal" "","Frank","","Kelly","","Kelly Inc.","","President","1234 Elm",,,"Westfield","NJ","07090","United States of America",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"(888) 999-8989",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"","0/0/00",,,"0/0/00",,,,,"kelly@sco.com","SMTP","Frank Kelly (kelly@sco.com)",,,,,,,"Unspecified",,,,"F.K.",,"","","",,,,,,,"Normal","False",,,"Normal" Here is a full list of the fields contained in a contact export file, with the fields numbered.
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