Comments on: Managing Contacts in the Address Book–Using Excel http://newbbie.com/2008/01/19/managing-contacts-in-the-address-book-using-excel/ For new BlackBerry (BB) owners, owners with a new BB,...or anyBBody else! Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:35:53 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Kelly Carter http://newbbie.com/2008/01/19/managing-contacts-in-the-address-book-using-excel/comment-page-5/#comment-8655 Kelly Carter Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:52:52 +0000 http://blackberry8130.wordpress.com/2008/01/19/managing-contacts-in-the-address-book-using-excel/#comment-8655 JORGE, You probably want to save your contacts in two forms: XLS and CSV. The XLS file format will retain font, size, colors, etc.--all formatting. The CSV loses all the formatting and only retains the field (column) names and the data in each field (column). The CSV is what you need to sync to/from your BlackBerry. The XLS might be needed in special cases where retaining the formatting is needed. Example: some phone numbers need to be prefixed by a + character, or a 0 (zero). If you load a CSV file back into Excel, those prefixes get "lost." This information might not be relevant to you but it has come up in many discussions I've had with other readers. Changing the order of columns probably won't cause a problem, but I've never tested that. But do NOT change the name of any column or it will not import into your phone. Changing font, size, etc. won't matter, as that formatting is lost when you save to a CSV file; that formatting is not carried into the phone, so is not needed. Hope that answers your questions. Kelly JORGE,
You probably want to save your contacts in two forms: XLS and CSV. The XLS file format will retain font, size, colors, etc.–all formatting. The CSV loses all the formatting and only retains the field (column) names and the data in each field (column). The CSV is what you need to sync to/from your BlackBerry. The XLS might be needed in special cases where retaining the formatting is needed. Example: some phone numbers need to be prefixed by a + character, or a 0 (zero). If you load a CSV file back into Excel, those prefixes get “lost.” This information might not be relevant to you but it has come up in many discussions I’ve had with other readers.

Changing the order of columns probably won’t cause a problem, but I’ve never tested that. But do NOT change the name of any column or it will not import into your phone. Changing font, size, etc. won’t matter, as that formatting is lost when you save to a CSV file; that formatting is not carried into the phone, so is not needed.

Hope that answers your questions.
Kelly

]]> By: JORGE http://newbbie.com/2008/01/19/managing-contacts-in-the-address-book-using-excel/comment-page-5/#comment-8653 JORGE Wed, 02 Sep 2009 20:03:29 +0000 http://blackberry8130.wordpress.com/2008/01/19/managing-contacts-in-the-address-book-using-excel/#comment-8653 This is the best trick ever...!!! Thanks a lot... I could finally upload all my contacts to my BB.. One last thing. Is it ok if I change the order of the columns, text font, size, etc..? It would be great to have a proper contact list that could synchronise at the same time. Thanks again! J This is the best trick ever…!!! Thanks a lot… I could finally upload all my contacts to my BB.. One last thing. Is it ok if I change the order of the columns, text font, size, etc..? It would be great to have a proper contact list that could synchronise at the same time.

Thanks again!
J

]]> By: Kelly Carter http://newbbie.com/2008/01/19/managing-contacts-in-the-address-book-using-excel/comment-page-5/#comment-8605 Kelly Carter Thu, 27 Aug 2009 23:09:13 +0000 http://blackberry8130.wordpress.com/2008/01/19/managing-contacts-in-the-address-book-using-excel/#comment-8605 Sean, I sent you a private email and you responded that you just took out the double-quotes. I had recommended that you replace the " character with the abbreviation for inches, since that is how you were using it. There's no great solution that I know of to your situation. Kelly Sean,
I sent you a private email and you responded that you just took out the double-quotes. I had recommended that you replace the ” character with the abbreviation for inches, since that is how you were using it. There’s no great solution that I know of to your situation.
Kelly

]]> By: Kelly Carter http://newbbie.com/2008/01/19/managing-contacts-in-the-address-book-using-excel/comment-page-5/#comment-8604 Kelly Carter Thu, 27 Aug 2009 23:07:53 +0000 http://blackberry8130.wordpress.com/2008/01/19/managing-contacts-in-the-address-book-using-excel/#comment-8604 Norman, I've never met an Australian I didn't like, and I've known a lot. So, I'm glad to have you as a member here. And I really appreciate the kind words, especially since you "got it" about how I try to write for my readers. Kelly Norman,
I’ve never met an Australian I didn’t like, and I’ve known a lot. So, I’m glad to have you as a member here. And I really appreciate the kind words, especially since you “got it” about how I try to write for my readers.
Kelly

]]> By: Norman Graef http://newbbie.com/2008/01/19/managing-contacts-in-the-address-book-using-excel/comment-page-5/#comment-8589 Norman Graef Tue, 25 Aug 2009 06:21:30 +0000 http://blackberry8130.wordpress.com/2008/01/19/managing-contacts-in-the-address-book-using-excel/#comment-8589 G'day Kelly, I'm an Aussie living in Shanghai, and would like to give you a big 'Thank You' for sharing this information - it has saved me a lot of time, eyesight and temper fits!! Your instructions are excellent, and do not assume that the reader is a paid up member of the wizz kid club, like so many other "help" sites tend to. G’day Kelly,
I’m an Aussie living in Shanghai, and would like to give you a big ‘Thank You’ for sharing this information – it has saved me a lot of time, eyesight and temper fits!!
Your instructions are excellent, and do not assume that the reader is a paid up member of the wizz kid club, like so many other “help” sites tend to.

]]> By: Sean Brown http://newbbie.com/2008/01/19/managing-contacts-in-the-address-book-using-excel/comment-page-5/#comment-8588 Sean Brown Tue, 25 Aug 2009 03:56:26 +0000 http://blackberry8130.wordpress.com/2008/01/19/managing-contacts-in-the-address-book-using-excel/#comment-8588 Many thanks Kelly! I have a related question - many of my notes also include extra double quotes e.g. X baby sam, born 3/3/99 29" and 8'10" - could you explain the difference between the two field identification selections you mention in your original how-to above - what's the difference b/w field settings and beginning and end of field values? (instructions from above are immediately below this message). Thanks again! Select Comma and Double quotation marks, if they’re not already selected. (This causes the creation of a so-called Comma-Separated-Value, or CSV, file. This is an extremely popular and useful text file format. It’s easy to read and imports beautifully into Excel as well as a vast number of other programs.) Click OK to close that window and return to the previous window. Many thanks Kelly! I have a related question – many of my notes also include extra double quotes e.g. X baby sam, born 3/3/99 29″ and 8′10″ – could you explain the difference between the two field identification selections you mention in your original how-to above – what’s the difference b/w field settings and beginning and end of field values? (instructions from above are immediately below this message).

Thanks again!

Select Comma and Double quotation marks, if they’re not already selected. (This causes the creation of a so-called Comma-Separated-Value, or CSV, file. This is an extremely popular and useful text file format. It’s easy to read and imports beautifully into Excel as well as a vast number of other programs.) Click OK to close that window and return to the previous window.

]]> By: Kelly Carter http://newbbie.com/2008/01/19/managing-contacts-in-the-address-book-using-excel/comment-page-5/#comment-8575 Kelly Carter Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:33:20 +0000 http://blackberry8130.wordpress.com/2008/01/19/managing-contacts-in-the-address-book-using-excel/#comment-8575 Sean, In a comma-separated value (CSV) file, the way you "hide" commas that you don't want to be separators is to enclose the text containing them in double-quotes, like this: item1, item2, "item 3 that contains this, that, and the other", item 4. You would need to put your notes in double-quotes. However, for you the better solution would be to change the separator character from a comma to something else like a semicolon or tab. Excel will handle that just as well as using commas. In Desktop Manager, when setting up for ASCII Import/Export, find the Options button that lets you change the separator character. Choose the character less likely to be found in your notes or other fields. My guess is the tab won't show up anywhere. Let me know how this works or if you have a problem. It should work. Kelly Sean,
In a comma-separated value (CSV) file, the way you “hide” commas that you don’t want to be separators is to enclose the text containing them in double-quotes, like this: item1, item2, “item 3 that contains this, that, and the other”, item 4. You would need to put your notes in double-quotes.

However, for you the better solution would be to change the separator character from a comma to something else like a semicolon or tab. Excel will handle that just as well as using commas. In Desktop Manager, when setting up for ASCII Import/Export, find the Options button that lets you change the separator character. Choose the character less likely to be found in your notes or other fields. My guess is the tab won’t show up anywhere.

Let me know how this works or if you have a problem. It should work.
Kelly

]]> By: Sean Brown http://newbbie.com/2008/01/19/managing-contacts-in-the-address-book-using-excel/comment-page-5/#comment-8572 Sean Brown Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:17:33 +0000 http://blackberry8130.wordpress.com/2008/01/19/managing-contacts-in-the-address-book-using-excel/#comment-8572 Hi, Thank you very much for your help with this. The export instructions were great, and I just finished editing over 2,000 contacts. Here's my problem, I keep detailed notes on contacts in the "notes" field, and these notes include a lot of commas. When I try to reimport the contacts into my blackberry, 12,000 extra contacts are created many of which are jumbles, I think being caused by the commas in my notes. Is there any solution for how to fix this? Thanks very much in advance! Best, Sean Hi,

Thank you very much for your help with this. The export instructions were great, and I just finished editing over 2,000 contacts. Here’s my problem, I keep detailed notes on contacts in the “notes” field, and these notes include a lot of commas. When I try to reimport the contacts into my blackberry, 12,000 extra contacts are created many of which are jumbles, I think being caused by the commas in my notes. Is there any solution for how to fix this?

Thanks very much in advance!

Best,
Sean

]]> By: Kelly Carter http://newbbie.com/2008/01/19/managing-contacts-in-the-address-book-using-excel/comment-page-5/#comment-8558 Kelly Carter Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:58:42 +0000 http://blackberry8130.wordpress.com/2008/01/19/managing-contacts-in-the-address-book-using-excel/#comment-8558 Kip, Thanks for the feedback. Kelly Kip,
Thanks for the feedback.
Kelly

]]> By: Kip http://newbbie.com/2008/01/19/managing-contacts-in-the-address-book-using-excel/comment-page-5/#comment-8556 Kip Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:59:59 +0000 http://blackberry8130.wordpress.com/2008/01/19/managing-contacts-in-the-address-book-using-excel/#comment-8556 Thanks Kelly- you made it so simple! Thanks Kelly- you made it so simple!

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