InterAction lets you do the following to manipulate data as it is imported into InterAction:
- Concatenate multiple import fields into a single InterAction field. For example, you can combine an area code field and a phone number field into a single InterAction phone number field.
- Add text before and after the imported value.
- Split an import field into multiple fields. For example, you can split a single name field containing both first and last names. You create a field mapping that places the first part of the field into InterAction’s First Name field and the second part of the same field into the Last Name field.
- Change the case of an import field (for example, upper, lower, or proper case).
- Set the InterAction field to a specific value if the import field is blank.
Edit Mapping Instructions to Manipulate Data
- Choose Folder > Import to open the Import Contacts dialog box.
Enter the File Name (full path) for an import file. You must specify an import file to create or edit the mapping instructions.
Choose the Lookup button (
) to browse for the file if necessary.
- Select the First row of file is field headers check box if applicable.
Select the Large Number of Records check box if applicable.
If you select Large Number of Records, Association Cleanup is not automatically run at the end of the import. You can manually initiate Association Cleanup later by opening the folder and choosing Tools > Association Cleanup > Folder.
- Specify the Import Folder.
- Choose the Edit button to display the Edit Import Instructions dialog box.
Choose Field Options to display the Edit Field Options dialog box.
- When finished editing, choose OK from the Edit Field Options dialog box to save the instructions.
- Choose OK to import into the current folder using the new mapping instructions or choose Cancel to close the Import Contacts dialog box without performing the import.
Tips for Manipulating Import Data
The following tips describe how to use the Edit Field Options dialog box to create sophisticated mapping instructions:
Use the Import Field Case drop-down list from the Edit Field Options dialog box to change the case of the import field. Upper changes all letters in the import value to upper case (edWARD is imported as EDWARD). Lower changes all letters in the import value to lower case (edWARD is imported as edward). Proper capitalizes the first letter of each word (edWARD is imported as Edward).
Note that the Proper setting uses spaces and punctuation to distinguish the words in an imported value. For example, the text p.o. box is converted to P.O. Box because the p is the first letter, the o is preceded by punctuation, and the b is preceded by a space and is therefore considered the first letter of a word. This may cause unexpected results when importing text that is all upper case, but without punctuation, such as the suffix IV (the fourth). Because InterAction interprets IV as a single word, this text is converted to Iv. To work around this problem, select the Upper option for fields containing many all upper case values.
Splitting a Single Field into Multiple Fields
To split a single import field into multiple InterAction fields, add separate mappings to map the import field to each of the InterAction fields. Edit each mapping and choose the appropriate settings for Portion of import field to be used to identify which portion of the import field goes with which InterAction field.
Splitting a Single Field into Multiple Fields
Suppose your import file includes an address field that contains all three lines of the address separated by line feeds like the following:
...,address,...
...,”1315 West 22nd Street<LF>Interface Towers<LF>Suite 250”,...
Do the following to import this information into three InterAction address fields.
- In the New/Edit Import Instructions dialog box, choose Map Import Fields to display the Map Import Fields dialog box.
Map the address field to InterAction’s Line 1, Line 2, and Line 3 fields for the desired field group (for example, create three separate mappings) and choose OK. Your mapped fields should look like the following:
For each field mapping, select the mapping and choose Field Options to open the Edit Field Options dialog box. Edit the mappings as follows:
For Line 1 of Office Address, set the From and To fields like this:
For Line 2 of Office Address, set the From and To fields like this:
For Line 3 of Office Address, set the From and To fields like this:
After formatting all three fields, the mapped fields should look like the following:
Concatenating Multiple Fields into a Single Field
To concatenate (join) multiple fields from an import file into a single InterAction field, map each import field to the same InterAction field. Edit each mapping and set the Order when mapped setting such that it joins the import fields in the correct order.
Concatenating Multiple Fields into a Single Field
Suppose your import file includes a phone number split into two fields (area code and number) like the following:
...,area code,number,...
...,312,555-9876,...
Do the following to concatenate (join) the two fields and import into a single InterAction field:
- In the New/Edit Import Instructions dialog box, choose Map Import Fields to display the Map Import Fields dialog box.
Map both the area code and number fields to InterAction’s Number field for the desired field group and choose OK. Your mapped fields should look like the following:
- Select the first mapping (Number of Office Phone mapped to the number) and choose Field Options to display the Edit Field Options dialog box.
Set the Order when mapped to the same InterAction field to be 2 as shown:
- Choose OK and InterAction sets the mapping such that both the area code and the number will be mapped to the same field, with the area code coming first. (You do not need to change the Order number for the area code because the order number is defaulted to 1.)