Stall when importing ACT 9 Database

[Nathan Wiegand]

I am trying to import an ACT 9 database of 1052 contacts into BCM 2007, I get
through setting up the import and when it starts it gets to contact 455 and
then just stops there and the program stops responding. I tried going into
the ACT database and deleting contact number 455 and then importing but it
still hangs at the same number. I have also run a repair on the act DB
withouth and help. Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[Luther]

I am trying to import an ACT 9 database of 1052 contacts into BCM 2007, I get
through setting up the import and when it starts it gets to contact 455 and
then just stops there and the program stops responding. I tried going into
the ACT database and deleting contact number 455 and then importing but it
still hangs at the same number. I have also run a repair on the act DB
withouth and help. Any ideas?

Thanks!

I tried importing from ACT 9 and it stopped without importing any
records. I suspect there are some new fields in ACT, or some fields
are handled differently, so that when the bcm import module for ACT 7
runs into one of those, it's an unexpected error and it just stops
instead of handling the data or skipping the error.

You could try exporting the ACT data to a CSV file and then importing
that file into BCM, although the CSV mechanism is limited to contacts.

 

[Lon Orenstein]

Nathan:

We've successfully imported an ACT! 9 database so I have to think it's the
database that's the problem, especially if it gets part of the way through.
The hardest part is finding the bad record -- check the error log in BCM and
see if that gives you a clue. If you've got custom fields you're trying to
import, check the ACT! data to make sure it's consistent -- in other words,
a date field doesn't have an invalid date or a number field doesn't have
text in it.

Luther is correct -- you could export in CSV and then import that. What
might work is to then import the ACT! db again, and specify No Duplicates.
This could bring in the notes and history -- BCM will do the matching for
you. This could also tell you whether the problem is the contact record or
a history or activity record.

HTH,
Lon

___________________________________________________________
Lon Orenstein
pinpointtools, llc
(e-mail address removed)
Author of Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager For Dummies
Author of the eBook: Moving from ACT! to Business Contact Manager
800.238.0560 x6104 Toll Free (U.S. only) +1 214.905.0401 x6104
www.pinpointtools.com

 

[Nathan Wiegand]

Where do I find the log files to look at?

Nathan:

We've successfully imported an ACT! 9 database so I have to think it's the
database that's the problem, especially if it gets part of the way through.
The hardest part is finding the bad record -- check the error log in BCM and
see if that gives you a clue. If you've got custom fields you're trying to
import, check the ACT! data to make sure it's consistent -- in other words,
a date field doesn't have an invalid date or a number field doesn't have
text in it.

Luther is correct -- you could export in CSV and then import that. What
might work is to then import the ACT! db again, and specify No Duplicates.
This could bring in the notes and history -- BCM will do the matching for
you. This could also tell you whether the problem is the contact record or
a history or activity record.

HTH,
Lon

___________________________________________________________
Lon Orenstein
pinpointtools, llc
(e-mail address removed)
Author of Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager For Dummies
Author of the eBook: Moving from ACT! to Business Contact Manager
800.238.0560 x6104 Toll Free (U.S. only) +1 214.905.0401 x6104
www.pinpointtools.com

 

[Luther]

Where do I find the log files to look at?








- Show quoted text -

The latest version of BCM places logs in:
C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data
\Microsoft\Business Contact Manager\logs

Earlier versions would put the logs in My Documents.

 

[Nathan Wiegand]

sorry i dont see a logs file under the business contacts manager folder. is
ther somewhere else they could be?

 

[Raul]

Hi Nathan

When you tried importing the data from ACT it BCM did it give you any
message saying that there were error importing the log file, check the error
log for more info or did it hangs

My understanding is that just hangs correct?If this being the case then you
will not have a log file

 

[Nathan Wiegand]

Raul, that is correct. The program just hangs and I am not even able to get
it to cancel. I have to end up killing the processes that are running it to
get out of outlook. Is there any way to tell what order the BCM is importing
the contacts in. I was realizing that the contact #455 that I was looking at
changes based on how I sort them in ACT!. So if I knew what order BCM pulls
them in I could find the corrupt contact much easier.

Thanks!

 

[Lon Orenstein]

Yeah, this is the fly in the ointment. The way that ACT! stores data does
not easily correlate to what you see on the screen so it's hard to tell
which record it's choking on... That's why the CSV route might give you
some better info.

Thanks,
Lon

___________________________________________________________
Lon Orenstein
pinpointtools, llc
(e-mail address removed)
Author of Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager For Dummies
Author of the eBook: Moving from ACT! to Business Contact Manager
800.238.0560 x6104 Toll Free (U.S. only) +1 214.905.0401 x6104
www.pinpointtools.com

 

[Nathan Wiegand]

I decided to try giving it some time when i was trying to convert the
database after about a half our of just letting it sit there after clicking
the cancel button it finally kicked back a message saying that it was unable
to import the data and it let me exit out of the program correctly. i then
went into that log folder you guys were talking about and found some logs but
all they were just about how duplicates were found in the database and they
were also from earlier in the day when i was trying just importing the CSV
file. there is nothing from the database conversion wizard talking about
where it found the problem.. would that be somewhere else?

 

[Nathan Wiegand]

I'm still fighting with this and wondering if anyone has any more intput.
The outlook contact manager software hangs when importing a certan contact
(now number 459 now because some have been added and the total is 1057), i
have gone through and erased any text from the phone number fields, looked
through all the date fields looking for wierd stuff and didnt find anything.
as far as i can tell there are no log files being created. how can i figure
out what order outlook is pulling the act contacts in?

Thanks!

 

[Lon Orenstein]

I'm still fighting this also... My original comments about being able to
import an ACT! 9.0 database were true, but not complete. We had success on
a few 9.0 databases and thought that if you had version 8.0 or 9.0 on the
same PC as BCM, with the schema and software on the same version, it would
work just fine. Other people reported the same results. Now we've bumped
up against a database that "should" import with no problem but BCM's
Conversion Tool is choking on a record number. We've been trying and trying
to figure out which record that number is and can't do it.

In conversation with the BCM Team, I was told they are working on an updated
conversion tool but it's not ready yet and they won't commit to a time
frame. We're exploring other options but don't have anything to announce
yet.

If anyone can figure out how to determine which record BCM is referring to,
please post. Then, you can go into the ACT db and delete that.

Thanks,
Lon

___________________________________________________________
Lon Orenstein
pinpointtools, llc
(e-mail address removed)
Author of Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager For Dummies
Author of the eBook: Moving from ACT! to Business Contact Manager
800.238.0560 x6104 Toll Free (U.S. only) +1 214.905.0401 x6104
www.pinpointtools.com

 

[Sat]

Hi Nathan,

This is Sateesh from the BCM team at MSFT. Can you please give me you
e-mail address and company information? Is it possible to share the problem
database with us for further analysis?

 

[pencilandpaperfan]

were you ever able to solve this problem. I am having the same problem
converting ACT 9 database.
dave