Importing Clients into AyaNova from a CSV format file

1. Review the required format of the CSV file for use with the Client import utility

1. Required format of .csv (Comma Separated Values) file for use with ImportClientCSV:

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Each field must be Quoted (surrounded by quotation characters) if the field contains a comma, a return, empty space or a quotation mark character - it is recommended to quote every field to prevent errors. For example, if the field for MailAddress is 234 Mydrive St you must have quotes around it as in "234 Mydrive St"

•	Every line can contain up to 24 fields, any non used or empty fields must be present, i.e. "","",

•	The Name field which is the first field is the only required field

•	All the normal AyaNova rules for Client objects apply; duplicate clients will not be imported, records with no client name will not be imported, fields that exceed the length in AyaNova will be truncated.

•	The csv file must not contain field names in the first row or any header or footer, data only.

•	It is helpful to test export some clients from AyaNova then examine the file to see the expected format

•	The csv file must contain the following 24 fields in following order:

Client Name, MailAddress, MailCity, MailStateProvince, MailCountry, MailPostal, DeliveryAddress, DeliveryCity, DeliveryStateProvince, DeliveryCountry, DeliveryPostal, Contact, Other Contacts, Business, Fax, Home, Mobile, Pager, Email, AccountNumber, WebSite, GeneralNotes, TechNotes, PopupNotes

•	Backup your AyaNova database before importing, there is no undo feature and it's easy to accidentally have a field in the wrong position as the import utility has no way of confirming if a phone number (for example) is in the email address column.

•	Use the export feature to export your current clients in AyaNova to a comma separate values file which you can then open up using NotePad and see the correct format as a guide before creating your own for import.

•	Comma Separated Values files (.csv files) can be created and opened directly using Microsoft Access, this is handy if you wish to "massage" the data before importing or examine or work with an exported Clients.csv file

•	When you open the csv file before importing, carefully examine the grid of records displayed to ensure each field is in the correct column before importing.

•	For better performance when importing a large number of clients, do the import from the fastest connection to the database possible, i.e. don't import clients via a dataportal unless performance is not a concern.

•	NOTE: In some cases, when you use MS Excel to edit or create a CSV file, the resultant file will not have quotes around the fields.

•	If you get errors trying to import a file you edited in Excel, it is suggested to import it into a table in Microsoft Access.

•	Right click on the table in MS Access, select Export…, select CSV from the drop down list and the CSV file will be created correctly with quotes and commas.

•	If you do not have MS Access, send the existing CSV file zipped using WinZip to AyaNova Support, along with the full text of the error you received and what you checked so far and we can see if we can import into MS Access for you and create the formatted CSV file.

•	Duplicate clients will not be imported, the client name is examined before each client is imported and if the client name is found to be in AyaNova already then that record is not imported. This means you can re-import the same data safely without getting duplicate records.

•	After importing, examine the imported records and ensure fields were imported to the correct area of the client record.

1. Create the csv file with the format required as stated above that contains the client information that you wish to import into AyaNova

•	Refer to the Backup & Recovery section in this Help file for information on backing up the database for your configuration.

3. Ensure all other users have exited out of AyaNova for the import process in the event you encounter an issue, so that you can restore from backup without having to re-enter data entered by other users.

4. If you are importing a lot of records, we recommend that you perform the import on the same computer where the database resides, and where the csv file is.

5. From the main menu select Plugins -> ImportExport.csv -> Clients to open the client import/export program

8. The ImportClientCSV utility will read the file and display a message identifying the number of records it finds, and a reminder to confirm the fields and check data before continuing

9. The data will now display with a header for each column so that you can confirm data is in the correct field

•	data can not be edited in the ImportClientCSV utility. It is for viewing only before importing.

•	not all records will display, only the first 20 or so so that you can confirm the initial records are in the correct fields

10. Once you have confirmed data is in the correct fields, select the menu option Import Data

•	The time it will take will depend on the number of records to import

•	Duplicate clients will not be imported based on the client name.

12. When the import is finished, a message will display identifying the number of client records imported. Select OK to close.

13. Exit out of the ImportClientCSV utility by selecting the X in the upper right-hand corner