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InterAction® Administrator Answer Center

Creating and Editing Import Mapping Instructions

  • Updated

To help users import their data more efficiently, you can create system mapping instructions that work with most CSV files at your organization. System mapping instructions can only be created by a system administrator.

System mapping instructions are normally available to all users in the Windows Client and can only be created by the system administrator. Personal mapping instructions can be created by any user and are only available to the user that created them.

If appropriate system mapping instructions do not exist for the data that you want to import, you need to create personal mapping instructions. You can either create personal mapping instructions from scratch or modify system mapping instructions and save them as personal instructions.

Import Mapping instructions are stored in IFI (.ifi file extension) files. The IFI files for system mapping instructions are stored in your SysData directory. The IFI files for personal mapping instructions are stored in your Data directory. The location for these directories are set in your intractn.ini file. Mapping instructions created for regular InterAction imports cannot be used with the Advanced Import feature.

You can use InterAction to create and edit system import mapping instructions or personal import mapping instructions. You must log on using the System Administrator User account to create or edit system import mapping instructions.

Create Mapping Instructions

  1. From InterAction Windows Client, choose Folder > Import to open the Import Contacts dialog box.

    Any available mapping instructions display in the Mapping Instructions field.

  2. Enter the File Name (full path) for an import file.
    • You must specify an import file to create or edit the mapping instructions. If you are creating system mapping instructions, use a sample of the file the instructions should match.

    • The import file must be a CSV file.

      Choose the Lookup button () to browse for the file if necessary.

  3. Specify the encoding of the file in the Import File As drop-down list.
  4. Select the First row of file is field headers check box if applicable.

  5. 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.

  6. Specify the folder into which the contacts are imported.

    Choose the Lookup button () to browse for the folder.

  7. Choose the New button to display the New Import Instructions dialog box:

  8. Enter the mapping instructions Name. The name displays in the Import Contacts dialog box, so use a descriptive name.
  9. If you are logged on as the System Administrator User, you can select the Save as system import instructions check box to create system import instructions.

  10. Choose the Map Import Fields button to open the Add Field Mapping dialog box.

  11. To map an Import Field to an InterAction Field, select (highlight) both fields and choose the Map button. Make sure you highlight an InterAction field (non-bold), not a field group (bold). InterAction displays an asterisk next to fields that are mapped.

    When importing companies, you can map the City name to the Address Description to prevent the Type from becoming the Description.

    To populate a field in InterAction with data that does not exist in the import file, add a field mapping that maps <User Supplied Value> to an InterAction field. InterAction prompts you to enter a value. You can later edit the value by editing the field mapping and editing the value in the Value if Import Field is Blank field. For example, you may wish to populate a field with the name of the original data source for the information.

  12. When the contacts are imported, InterAction automatically creates locations using the information mapped into InterAction. To prevent InterAction from creating a location, select the item in the Locations list and choose Delete.

    For more information, see Defining Locations when Importing Contacts.

  13. When you are done mapping fields, choose Close to return to the New Import Instructions dialog box, which now displays the mapped fields.

    • To remove a mapped field, select it from the list and choose the Clear Field Mapping button.
    • To change a field mapping, remove the mapped field and add a new field mapping.

    • To change the settings for the field group, select it from the list and choose Field Group Instructions.

      You can use the Prev and Next buttons to scroll through your CSV file to confirm the field mappings.

  14. Choose OK to save and close the new mapping instructions.
  15. 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.

Once you have created mapping instructions, you can edit them. You can also edit system mapping instructions and save them as personal mapping instructions.

Edit Mapping Instructions

  1. Log on to the InterAction Windows Client.
  2. Choose Folder > Import to open the Import Contacts dialog box.

  3. 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.

  4. Select the First row of file is field headers check box if applicable.

  5. 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.

  6. Select the folder into which the contacts should be imported.

    Choose the Lookup button () to browse for the folder.

  7. Choose the Edit button to display the Edit Mapping Instructions dialog box:
  8. If desired, edit the mapping instructions Name. (If you are editing system mapping instructions, provide a different name in order to save the changes you make.)
  9. Modify the import mappings.
    • To remove a mapped field, select it from the list and choose the Clear Field Mapping button.
    • To change a field mapping, remove the mapped field and add a new field mapping.
    • To change the settings for the field group, select it from the list and choose Field Group Instructions.
  10. When finished editing, choose OK from the Edit Mapping Instructions dialog box to save the instructions.
  11. Choose OK to import the selected data file using the new mapping instructions or choose Cancel to close the Import Contacts dialog box without performing the import.

Change Personal Import Instructions to System Import Instructions

  1. If another user created the personal import mapping instructions, copy the IFI file for the instructions into the Data directory on the workstation you are using.
  2. Log onto the InterAction Windows Client as the System Administrator User.

  3. Open or create a Folder to receive the data.

    You must have a folder open to update the import instructions, but you don’t need to actually import any data.

  4. Choose Folder > Import to open the Import Contacts dialog box.

    The available mapping instructions display in the Mapping Instructions field.

  5. Enter the File Name for an import file. Enter the full path and file name.
    • You must specify the import file to create or edit mapping instructions. If you are editing mapping instructions for an end user, use a sample of the file the instructions should match.

    • The import file must be a comma separated value (CSV) file.

      Choose the Lookup button () to browse for the file if necessary.

  6. Select the Mapping Instructions to edit and choose Edit.
  7. Select the System check box.

  8. Make any other necessary changes to the mapped fields, then choose OK.

    InterAction automatically moves the IFI file from your Data directory to the SysData directory.

  9. Distribute the modified IFI file to the SysData directory for your users.

Distributing System Import Mapping Instructions

Import instructions are stored in IFI files. The files for system instructions are stored in the user’s SysData directory. The files for personal import instructions are stored in the user’s Data directory.

When creating and editing system import instructions, you must distribute the updated IFI files to the SysData directory for all users. To do this, configure the user workstations to use a SysData directory on the network, then place the edited files in this location.

If you do not have a network location to store the SysData directory, you can do one of the following options:

  • Use a network update utility to push the change out to each workstation.
  • Send out changed files through email or some other method and tell users to copy the files into the appropriate folders themselves.

InterAction includes several system import instructions files already set up.