Importing Microsoft Outlook Contacts into a Subscriber List

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1. How to Export Your Contact Data from Microsoft Outlook
1. 1. 1.1.1. Field-Mapping Guidelines
2. How to Create the Export File: Microsoft Outlook 2003 Example
3. Troubleshooting Tips
1. 3.1. Errors Importing the Contact File Data
2. 3.2. Field-Mapping Issues

You can send ExactTarget email to the contacts you have set up in Microsoft Outlook by importing the contact data into your ExactTarget application.

Note: Your Outlook contacts must have opted in to receive emails from you, per your agreement with ExactTarget, before you can import them into an ExactTarget subscriber list.

If you're using the ExactTarget FTP feature, refer to the Enhanced FTP Instruction Guide.

Note: If you're running Microsoft Outlook 2000 or earlier, please note that you might not be able to export your address book data (which is different from your contact data) directly. See this Microsoft knowledge base article for further information: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=252524

How to Export Your Contact Data from Microsoft Outlook

The following sections explain the process of creating the export file from Microsoft Outlook.

If you have any questions or encounter any problems while creating your export file, please contact Microsoft Support.

Note: You may be prompted to install an Outlook translator feature during the export process. In most cases, you can respond Yes when prompted to install the feature, and the feature will be installed from the Outlook installation files stored on your hard drive. Please see your organization's system administrator if you require assistance.

Compare the data fields in your Outlook contact records with the attribute fields set up in your ExactTarget account to ensure that all of the contact data fields and all of the attribute fields you need are set up properly.
Follow the instructions provided in the Microsoft Outlook online help to export your Outlook contacts into a Microsoft Excel file, referring to the field-mapping guidelines in the next section of this document for additional information.
Open the resulting Excel file and verify that the data looks right.
In Excel, choose the Save As option and save the file as type CSV (Comma delimited) (*.csv).
The ExactTarget application accepts only CSV and TXT files.
When Excel warns you that the file may contain features not compatible with its original format, choose to keep the new format (click Yes), which leaves out any incompatible features.
When you close Excel, you'll be prompted to save changes. Choose No.

Field-Mapping Guidelines

Before exporting your Outlook contact data, understand how the contact data will map into your ExactTarget attribute fields. Keep the following guidelines in mind:

Required attributes: Your export must include data for all profile and preference attributes that are defined as required in your ExactTarget account.
Restricted-value attributes: The contact data for any restricted-value attribute fields (attributes for which a drop-down list of values has been defined) must exactly match one of the values defined for that attribute field in your ExactTarget account.
Mapping to attribute field names: To simplify the process of importing the contact data into ExactTarget, modify the field names in the import/export wizard to match your ExactTarget attribute field names exactly. For example, in the Microsoft Outlook 2003 import/export wizard, click the value shown in the Field column on the right and edit the value to match the equivalent ExactTarget attribute field name.
Remove unneeded fields: For best results, remove from the mapping any fields that you will not be importing into ExactTarget (that is, any fields for which you do not have an equivalent attribute).

To remove a field from the mapping, simply click the field in the right-hand box of the Map Custom Fields dialog box and drag it to the left. Another option is to delete the unneeded columns from the resulting Excel file, after the file has been created.

How to Create the Export File: Microsoft Outlook 2003 Example

As an example, the following steps walk through the process of creating the export file in
Outlook 2003.

File:010_ExactTarget/030_Subscribers/Subscribers/Importing_Microsoft_Outlook_Contacts_into_a_Subscriber_List/fromTo.png

Click the File menu in Outlook, choose Import and Export to launch the Import and Export wizard.
In the first dialog box of the Import and Export wizard, choose Export to a File and click the Next button, which brings up the next dialog box of the wizard.
Choose Microsoft Excel and click the Next button, which brings up the next dialog box of the wizard.
Select Contacts and click the Next button.
Choose where to save the file and what to call it. Then click the Next button.
Click the Map Custom Fields button to bring up the Map Custom Fields dialog box.
The easiest way to identify which field name in Outlook corresponds to which field data is to view the data for one of your contacts. To do so, click the Next button in the Map Custom Fields dialog box.

The box on the left shows all the data entered for this contact. The box on the right shows the field name associated with each piece of this contact's data.

To view the data for different contacts, use the Previous and Next buttons to scroll through the contacts.

Notice that the plus signs in the box on the left indicate complex data fields that Outlook has parsed into individual fields. For example, if you expand the address field, you'll see the individual fields that Outlook has mapped:
If you want to add a field to the mapping - for example, if you want the full, unparsed address instead of or in addition to the individual pieces of the address - click the field in the box on the left and drag it into the box on the right.
You can remove mapped fields by clicking the field in the box on the right and dragging
it to the left.
To rename a field so that it matches the name of your ExactTarget attribute, click the field name in the box on the right, which will cause the field name to become highlighted and active for editing. Then type the new name and press Enter.
When done with the field mappings, click the OK button.
Click the Finish button.
Outlook creates your contact file, which may take a while. When Outlook is finished,
you'll find the file in the location you specified.

To import the file into ExactTarget, see How to Import Subscribers Into a List.

Troubleshooting Tips

The following sections provide tips for common issues.

Errors Importing the Contact File Data

The most common causes for encountering errors while attempting to import the Outlook export file into the ExactTarget Application can be resolved by re-saving the export file in Microsoft Excel or by deleting all unneeded columns in Excel.

The ExactTarget application is designed to handle Microsoft Excel-created files. If you choose an export file format type other than Microsoft Excel, follow these steps to avoid errors:

Open Microsoft Excel and browse to the CSV or TXT file that Outlook created. (In the Open dialog box, choose to view files of all types: *.*)
For TXT files, Excel will prompt you with the Text Import Wizard. Accept all defaults in this wizard, and then Excel will open the file.
Choose to save the file in Excel.
When Excel warns you that the file may contain features not compatible with its original format, choose to keep the new format, which leaves out any incompatible features.
When you close Excel, you'll be prompted to save changes. Choose No.

If you have problems with an Excel export file, try opening the file and deleting all unneeded columns, which will often resolve errors.

Field-Mapping Issues

Here are some tips regarding field mapping:

Custom contact fields: Custom contact fields that you create in Outlook are not available in the Outlook import/export wizard.
Individual name and address fields: When you enter contact names and addresses in Outlook, Outlook automatically parses the data. In other words, a contact's name is automatically broken up into a title field, first name field, middle name/initial field, last name field, and suffix field. Likewise, an address field is broken up as shown in the following illustration:

Full name and address fields: Although the parsing that Outlook automatically performs does offer greater granularity so that you can export the pieces of a name or address separately, this parsing also makes it difficult to map a full name or a full address as a single field.

Full name: Notice that the full name is not automatically mapped (not included by default in the list on the right). You can drag the full name from the left-hand box into the right-hand box to include it in the mapping, as shown here:

However, note that Outlook automatically uses the Last Name First Name style, which may not be how you want the full name to appear in your attributes.

Spaces in full address and name: Notice also that the full name and full address contain no spaces between the elements. For example, the address in this example appears as 20 N Meridian StIndianapolis, IN, with no space between "St" and "Indianapolis." If you want to map over the full address rather than the pieces of the address - which, again, you can do by dragging the full address from the left-hand box into the right-hand box - you may want to first go into each contact's record in Outlook and add a space at the end of each address line. Here's what the previous example looks like after a space has been added after "St" in the contact record:

This page was last updated by Adam Evans on Tue, 19 Jul 2011 12:08:29 GMT.

If you require assistance with the ExactTarget application, please contact Global Support. If you wish to send Adam direct feedback, fill out the form below:

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