To import an Entourage Contacts File:
1. In Entourage, select Export Contacts... from the File menu, and select a folder to save the resulting file to. The default location is the Documents folder. The default name of the file is Contacts Export.txt, which is a good choice.
2. In iData 2, select Entourage Contacts File... from the Import menu under the File menu.
3. In the Open dialog that comes up next, navigate to your Contacts file, select it, and click the Open button.
4. The following dialog will appear. If there is no current datafile open that has the same number of fields as the file being imported, only the first option will be available.
5. If applicable, select one of the radio buttons. Here are what the options mean:
a. Create new field-based datafile - As you might expect, this will create a new datafile containing the imported Contacts data. You will be able to save the new datafile with any name you desire.
b. Add to current datafile - If this option is available, it will cause newly imported records to be added at the end of the current datafile. If you are importing a later version of the Contacts file that was used to create the current datafile, you will probably end up with duplicate records. Therefore, this option is best for adding Contacts from different files into a single datafile.
c. Merge into current datafile - If this option is available, after adding the newly imported records, iData 2 will automatically remove all exact duplicates, so this is probably the best option for repeatedly updating a datafile for a particular Contacts file. Note that removing duplicates requires that the datafile be sorted by the contents of all the fields in order, so if you have rearranged the datafile for any reason, that order will be lost.
6. Click the OK button to start the import.
7. Once the import is complete, if you selected the first option, the result will be a new untitled datafile. In this case, we recommend that you save the new datafile right away, giving it the same name as the file from which it was imported, but retaining the required .idata file name extension.
Note: Entourage Contacts files can have a variable number of fields, so if you need to repeatedly merge into the same datafile, don't change its format between imports.
