Import Name/Home Addresses - Create New Names/Addresses

Import Names/Home Addresses - Create New Ones

The Import Names/Home Addresses routine can create new person records and populate in each one the name fields (Prefix, First Name, Last Name, Suffix) and all of the fields in the Home Address tab, as well as selected other biographical fields, such as date of birth and person codes, by importing these values from a file.

This function, therefore, can add to GiftWrap new person records that are already stored in another database. (Note: Import Names/Home Addresses can also update existing name and address records. See Import Names/Home Addresses - Update Existing Ones for details.)

Import Names/Home Addresses can import data from a file that is in comma-delimited (.csv) format. Numbers should not include commas and any text value, such as an address line, must be contained in quotes if it includes a comma.

The easiest way to save a comma-delimited file is to work in Excel and, when done, save the file as type .csv. When you save an Excel file in .csv format, Excel will automatically place quotes around any text value that contains a comma.

The import file must meet the format specifications described in the Import file requirements section below.

1. Choose Utilities > Import Names/Home Addresses in the Menu Bar.

2. Indicate whether you want to update existing person records or create new ones.

Choose Update existing Names / Home Addresses to update existing person records in GiftWrap.

Choose Add New Names / Home Addresses to create new person records in GiftWrap.

3. Choose the Charity for which you will be importing data. This choice is unavailable if you have only one Charity set up.

4. Mark the First line is column header check box if your file includes column headers (strongly recommended).

5. Click .

6. Browse to the file whose contents you wish to import. Click Open.

7. Click Import. If you see an error log, see Notes below.

8. If any records in the import file appears to match a person record that already exists in the database, GiftWrap will display a list of all the records with possible matches. Click Continue to proceed to step (9) or Cancel to end the process without adding any person records.

9. If any possible matches between records in the import file and records in the database were identified in step (8), you will be given three options for how to proceed:

Continue with the import, but DO NOT import the records that have been identified as having possible matches in the database.

Only non-matched records in the file will be used to create new person records in the database.

Continue with the import, and DO import the records that have been identified as having possible matches in the database.

All records in the file will be used to create new person records in the database. If a record in the import file was for the same person as an existing record in the database, there will now be two person records in the database for the same person, a situation that could cause confusion and should be avoided.
Do not continue with the import.

No person records will be added to the database.

10. Once the import completes, a message will report how many records in the file were imported successfully and how many were not imported.

Import file requirements when adding new names and home addresses

Each line in the import file should correspond to a separate person record to be added to GiftWrap. Each line must contain a valid Record Number, First Name, Last Name, Gender, Address line 1, City, and either State and ZIP code or Country.

Do not include a value in the Country field if the State field is filled in with a US state code. If the State field is filled in with a Canadian province code, GiftWrap will enter "Canada" in the Country field, regardless of how the Country field is filled in in the file.

GiftWrap checks whether any records in the import file already exist in the database. Any records identified as possible matches are displayed during the import. You may choose to include or exclude all of the records that have possible matches.

Record Numbers

Each Record Number in the file must be unique. Record Numbers are not saved in GiftWrap. If you want to preserve each Record Number in GiftWrap, enter it in one of the Person Code fields in addition to the Record Number field.

Linking two records as spouses

To link two records in the import file as spouses, the Spouse Number in each record much contain the Record Number of the corresponding spouse. For example, if one record has Record Number 3 and another has Record Number 5, you can have these two people linked together as spouses in GiftWrap by storing 3 as the Spouse Number in Record Number 5 and 5 as the Spouse Number in Record Number 3. In other words, their respective records in the import file will start 3,5 and 5,3.

Optional column headers

While column headers are not required by GiftWrap, we strongly recommend that you include them in the file. Column headers can simplify proper formatting of the import file. They also make the file ' s contents easier to understand.

The column headers in the Import Names/Home Addresses file can use any names you want, but should relate well to the field they label. For example, use a header such as RecordNumber to label the Record Number field. You can use uppercase or lowercase letters in the column headers. As with all records in the file, each header must be separated by a comma.

File format
The fields contained in each line of the comma-delimited import file must be laid out in the order below, left to right. A field may be blank, but there must be a comma for each field.

Record Number

Spouse Record Number

Prefix

First Name

Last Name

Suffix

Salutation

Gender

Birth Date

Death Date

SSN

Street1

Street2

City

State

Zipcode

Country

Phone

Fax

Person Code 1

Person Code 2

Person Code 3

Person Code 4

For example, a line containing a first name of "Fred," a last name of "Flintstone," a gender of "M," an Address line 1 of "123 Main Street," a City of "Springfield," a State of "MA," and a ZIP code of "02313"

would look like this in comma-delimited format :

,,,Fred,Flintstone,,,M,,,,123 Main Street,,Springfiled,MA,02313,,,,,,,,

The same line, without the Person Key but with a Social Security Number of "123456789" and a Birth Date of "11/2/1934" would look like this:

,,,Fred,Flintstone,,,M,11/2/1934,,123456789,123 Main Street,,Springfiled,MA,02313,,,,,,,,

A three - line file might look like this, for example:

,,,Fred,Flintstone,,,M,11/2/1934,,123456789,123 Main Street,,Springfiled,MA,02313,,,,,,,,

,,,Jane,Donor,,,F,10/12/1942,,123459876,13 Oak Street,,Des Moines,IA,62512,,,,,,,,

,,,Benjamin,Franklin,,,M,1/22/1942,,333226789,999 Rittenhouse Square,,Philadelphia,PA,23456,,,,,,,,

Each line of the file is evaluated independently. Although it is typical for all lines of an Import Name/Home Addresses file to populate the same fields, they don't have to.

Social Security Number format requirement: The Social Security Number must be formatted without dashes. For example, you must express "123-45-6789" as "12345789".

Notes:

If you see an error log, we recommend that you fix the errors in the file that it identifies, then run Import Names/Home Addresses again.

If you click Continue, Import Names/Home Addresses imports all valid records in the file and ignores all invalid records in the file.

You can print the error log or save the log in a file that you can print or review later.