Agent Office Import Procedure

Agent Office Import Procedure

by Gary David Hall

Getting a truly good start in AO by doing an import, is actually a complicated task. Not because AO is complicated, but because there are many things to take into consideration, any time you are transferring a database from one program to another.

You can do an import relatively simply, but getting it all set up optimally, is not as easy.

I have done many imports to AO, from many kinds of files. If you want it done optimally, I am available on an hourly basis. We can do it online, together, on your computer.

Following is an attempt to guide you through an import. Some of the steps require a longer explanation than I can go into here, but this is a fairly comprehensive outline.

YOU MUST HAVE A BACKUP BEFORE YOU START THIS PROCEDURE - if you have information in AO that you do not want to lose if things go badly. I have never needed the backup, but I have always had one. I expect that the first time I don’t, is the time I will need it.

If you are exporting from Outlook 2003:

Click on: File, Import and Export, Export to a file, Next, Comma Separated Values (Windows), pick the folder your contacts are in to export, click on that folder, Next, pick a location to export the file to, and name it, Next, Map Custom Fields, Clear map...

...do NOT use the default map, as it includes all fields, which is unnecessary, and too many for Agent Office to handle - click on the "+" on each field on the left to see your options, and drag each field you want, over to the box on the right. As you are doing this, reference the available Agent Office fields by using the images at the following link - http://garydavidhall.com/aoimportfields.htm - click Finish.

Now - to import that file into Agent Office -

Click on:

Start

All Programs

Agent Office

Import

Yes

Comma Delimited (ASCII)

Find the file you want to import & Click ‘Open’

Note: Set the ‘Files of type’ at the bottom to ‘All files(*.*)'

You now need to double click on the word ‘Ignore’ to the right of each field, and pick the appropriate field to tell AO where you want to place the information on the left. Note that there are 3 different ways to identify the ‘Name’ field:

First/Last, Last/First, or First-Middle-Last.

The previous procedure is called ‘Mapping’.

On the left is the first record you are importing. Clicking ‘Next Record’ may be necessary to be able to identify all the different fields you are importing.

With regards to phone numbers, you need to use the ‘Phone 1 Number’, ‘Phone 2 Number’, etc., to identify which field you are placing the numbers. We will address the ‘Labels’ of the phone number fields shortly.

After you’re done identifying all the fields, click on ‘Set Defaults’.

In the ‘Phone Type’ fields, key in the following:

Phone #1 Type ‘Office’

Phone #2 Type ‘Fax’

Phone #3 Type ‘Mobile’

Phone #4 Type ‘Home’

Click ‘OK’

These are the default ‘Labels’ for the phone field labels. You can put them in any order you want, but it is my STRONG recommendation that you use these, in this order, based on my experience with databases. A full explanation in this procedure would be too long.

You can add other phone numbers to the contacts by using the drop down arrow next to the phone label, but if you do, remember to always place the original one back in that spot. This insures that if you ever have to export your contact info, that the same four phone number fields will export in the same order for every contact.

Editing the list of available phone labels is done by going to the ‘Picklist’ settings in ‘Tools’, Setup Options’

Next – click on ‘Categories’ and ‘Add’ a category, using a word that describes this import uniquely. Doing this enables you to do a ‘search’, using that category name, to gather together all the contacts you just imported. This enables you to delete them all in case you did not do the import correctly.

If you do, do it correctly, you can then use the ‘Global Edit’ feature, under ‘Edit’ to change that group of people in any way you like. Again – this topic is too long to discuss here in detail.

If you are ever going to import contacts from this same program again, your next step is to click ‘Save’. This will save all the fields that you just ‘mapped’.

Now click ' Import'. Wait for it to finish, and you're done.

If you are exporting from Top Producer 6i:

To export from TP6i, such that it can be readily imported into Agent Office:

In TP6i, Click on Setup, Export Data, Send to Top Producer 6i, Display all contacts, Select All, Export all contacts, Leave 'Top Producer 6i' highlighted, Export, in the 'File Name:' field, create a file name ending in ".txt" (no quotes), select a folder to save it to, click OK. You should get a message that export is complete.

To import this file into Agent Office:

In Windows, click on Start, All Programs, Agent Office, Import, (NOTE: IF YOU HAVE ANY DATA ALREADY IN AGENT OFFICE - BACKUP BEFORE PROCEEEDING!) Yes, Top Producer System 6 (Windows), Set Defaults, click on ‘Categories’ and ‘Add’ a category, using a word that describes this import uniquely. Doing this enables you to do a ‘search’, using that category name, to gather together all the contacts you just imported. This enables you to delete them all in case you did not do the import correctly. If you do, do it correctly, you can then use the ‘Global Edit’ feature, under ‘Edit’ to change that group of people in any way you like. This topic is too long to discuss here in detail. Choose File, (find the file you exported from TP6i), Import. It will tell you how many contacts were imported, which means you're done.

HOME - SITE MAP - ABOUT US - SUCCESS STORIES - AGENT OFFICE SOFTWARE - AGENT OFFICE SUCCESS STORIES - AGENT OFFICE ACTIVITY PLANS - TRANS-PLANS - AGENT OFFICE TIPS - OUR SERVICES - REAL ESTATE CONTACT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE - RE-ACTION NEWS - AGENT TOOLS - AGENT OFFICE ONLINE TRAINING - TOP PRODUCER SOFTWARE - AGENT OFFICE INTERACTIVE ONLINE CLASSES - ONLINE TRAINING & TECH SUPPORT - REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY SEMINARS - CUSTOM FORMS - MY BLOG