Importing Contacts from Other Programs

In response to the increased contact management capability of fotoBiz 2.0, we have been receiving emails from our customers asking how to import their clients from contact management programs such as Apple Address Book and Microsoft Outlook.

While this is covered in the fotoBiz 2.0 reference manual, which you can download from the support section of our website, sometimes getting your contacts into the correct format for import is not clear within the various programs from which you might be exporting.

The standard format for importing and exporting data between programs is usually a tab or comma delimited file. The tab file might have an ending of .tab or sometimes .txt. The comma-delimited file is usually .csv (comma separated values). FotoBiz will import both of these types, along with several other database formats, including Filemaker. Be sure to tell fotoBiz what type of data you are importing on the import message screen that you will see during your import.

If you are not sure how to get your contacts exported as a tab delimited file, I did some research online and found a few links for you to try. This is especially useful for Mac users since Apple doesn't include this feature in its application.

Mac Users Address Book Exporter:
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/9312

Windows Users:
For programs such as Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook Express, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft NetMeeting and Microsoft Phone Systems check out the link below for step-by-step instructions on exporting your data as a .csv file.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308665

Once you have your contacts in the tab/comma delimited file format that file should be live and active as one you can select for import (i.e.: not grayed out). Then you can refer back to page 22 of the reference manual for the remaining steps.

Being able to quickly and easily import your client data will allow you to begin utilizing the contact management features in fotoBiz 2.0 to its fullest potential.

Be sure to also check the tip where I discuss the benefits of mass mailings.