Phone numbers do not import correctly from Excel to Outlook

[Lori Daly]

I am attempting to import a list of contacts created in
Excel. I have done everything necessary to have this work
correctly, but when I get to the final step in the
importing process, the phone numbers that are in the
excel spread sheet formatted like this (123)123-4567 are
converting to this -4501234839. As you see by the
example, the number is not only not coverting to the same
format but the number itself changes. How does this need
to be formatted in Excel to import correctly or is it
something I need to change in Outlook.

Thank you!

 

[Michael Atkinson]

In Excel, Highlight the entire column of phone numbers,
* Click Format menu
* Select Cells
* Select Special format (on the Number tab)
* Select Phone Number on the right side
* Click OK

Then, be sure to import into a Phone Number field in Outlook (BusinessPhone,
BusinessFax, etc).

One other thing I do is to remove all the special characters from the Excel
Column ... the open parentheses, the close parentheses, the dashes, the
spaces, and any other character you might use. Do this with the 'Edit -
Replace' function.


You can do this import function ... Good Luck

 

[Lori Daly]

I have already formatted the columns as special + phone
numbers and once you do that you cannot remove the
parentheses, the close parentheses, the dashes, the

spaces, and any other character you might use. Using the

Do 'Edit ->Replace' function, because they are not
recognized charaters they are formatting. When I try to
import the name and the address come across fine, but the
number comes out totally wrong. Wrong area code, wrong
number. It just doesn't covert properly.

Do you have any other suggestions?