accesshow too take different information from different templa

[Kevin]

I am having a hard time understanding a couple of hopefully simple issues
with Access
How to transfer contacts from different Excell worksheets to Access in a
uniform common way. Then transfering those contacts into a data base that
will allow me to track the calls and follow up on them but keeping everything
linked together in a coomon way so anyone can access them. I would like to
use the standard templates under the business tab in Access

 

[Duane Hookom]

Is this a one time transfer? I would hope so. Excel isn't the proper tool for
managing contacts, calls, and follow-ups. There are lots of very good
programs that do this type of work including Access templates.

 

[Risse]

I am having a hard time understanding a couple of hopefully simple issues
with Access
How to transfer contacts from different Excell worksheets to Access in a
uniform common way. Then transfering those contacts into a data base that
will allow me to track the calls and follow up on them but keeping
everything
linked together in a coomon way so anyone can access them. I would like
to
use the standard templates under the business tab in Access

 

[roccogrand]

Kevin,

This could be a simple and easy operation or a little more complicated.
Before you do anything, backup your Excel file especially if it has lots of
contact information.

Next, open the Contacts table in Design View in Access. Take note of the
field names and their order. Now add those field names exactly as they
appear in the Contacts table to the top of your Excel file. If the Contact
table has field names other than the ones in your Excel add them to the Excel
file as well. You are doing this in order to map all the fields in the Excel
file to the fields in the Contacts table. Save the Excel file in case you
want to continue using this Excel template because it will allow you quickly
import new information into Access.

Now you will use the Import function in Access to load the data in Excel
into Access. The steps may depend on which version of Access you have but it
is a simple operation. Use Help to find the instructions.

Now import your data and append them to the Contacts table in the template.
If all went well your own friends and famly will be in the Contacts table
along with the sample data. (Take a few extra seconds to understand what
Access is doing.)

More than likely, you will have a few errors like fullnames being in the
First Name field. You can try fixing them in Excel before importation or you
can do this in Access. I prefer parsing names in Excel myself but Access will
also do it. The hard ones to fix are those with military (Col., Capt.) or
medical/academic (Dr.) prefixes and suffixes (Retired). If you only have a
few, do them by hand.

Now delete the sample data from the Table and voila you have got a slick
Contacts database.

HTH. And I hope that you are using the Access 2007 Contacts template. It
has some neat functionality thanks to the person who developed it.

David