The import file is simple and flexible. The file must be a delimited ASCII text file obeying these rules:

This format is almost identical to that exported from Microsoft Excel as a comma or tab separated text file. It is similar to the format exported by Microsoft Outlook, however Outlook may export a single event on multiple lines. This format is also the same format used by the ASCII front end mode feature.

List of recognized fields

Events are made up of nearly 50 fields. These 'internal fields' and are listed in the first column of the table below. During the import process the program tries to match the field names you provide with an internal field. If a match is found the field is recognized and will be imported. If a match is not found the field is unrecognized and will be ignored.

The following table lists the internal field names along with the recognized field names that will be accepted. Use any recognized field in the first row of your import file. Customized prompts (see customize event database) will also be recognized. Field recognition is not case sensitive.

Example import files

A very simple example of an import file follows. The first line has the list of fields separated by the delimiter, the second line contains a single event. The subject value contains a quoted value because it contains the delimiter. This file was exported from MS Excel using the comma separated value (.csv) format:

    subject,start date,category,location
    "Example, with comma",12/31/2001,Financial,New York

A second example shows the same data formatted using a the semi-colon delimiter and using alternative field names. Note that any field value may be quoted even if it does not contain the delimiter.

    "topic";"begin";"categories";"location"
    Example, with comma;"12/31/2001";"Financial";"New York"

Notes

The import file should format the date and time fields based on the settings currently in effect based on the date settings dialog. An easy what to confirm the format would be to export an event and look at the resulting file. The date and time format in the exported file is the same date and file format expected by the import feature.

If, during the import of a dropdown field (such as category, location, etc.), a value is encountered that does not already exist in the database, it will be added. We do this so that when the end user edits the imported event that value is preserved.