Importer Overview

The importer moves information from an Excel spreadsheet into your ExceedFurther data. You can import names with addresses, phones, emails and other attributes, and you can import gift transactions and activities.

Your spreadsheet must have a header row, that is, a row that defines what data is in each column of the sheet. For example, headers might be First Name, Last Name, Email, Street, City, State, Zip. Your headers can be anything you wish to use, but they must be unique. It is a good idea to use words that are easily understood since you will need to match each header with its corresponding field in ExceedFurther so it gets imported into the correct place.

If you are going to import data into code or tag fields in ExceedFurther, such as Reason or Fund for gifts or Mailing Tag for households, each value in the column in the spreadsheet must exactly match an existing code or code description in ExceedFurther.

If you have defaults set for data entry in the Admin tab, these defaults are applied to the imported data as well. For example, if your default Fund code is ADMIN, then gifts that are imported are given the ADMIN Fund code unless a different Fund code is included in the spreadsheet.

As names are imported, they are first compared to existing names in ExceedFurther to avoid adding duplicates. In some cases the computer may find a suspected matching name or several potential matches for an imported name. In these cases you need to decide if the name is a match to an existing name.

WARNING: Once you have imported names and gifts from a spreadsheet, there is no Undo button. Be careful to review all of the transactions before importing, making sure they appear in the correct columns in the grid on the New Transactions tab.

To import from an Excel spreadsheet into ExceedFurther, do the following:

  1. Create a spreadsheet with the data you wish to import and save it where you can easily find it.
  2. Make sure your spreadsheet has a header row that defines each column's contents.
  3. For each column that you wish to import into an ExceedFurther code or tag field, make sure the data exactly matches an existing code or code description in ExceedFurther.
    1. If you are importing new codes or tags, add them to ExceedFurther through the Admin tab before attempting the import.
  4. Open the Importer tab from the Interfaces Navigator.
  5. From the Begin Process tab, select the type of file you are importing and locate the file.
  6. Add or verify the mapping of the fields from the spreadsheet to fields in ExceedFurther.
  7. Add any default values you would like added to records as they are imported.
  8. Make sure the mapping is error-free and correct.
  9. Make decisions about any partial or duplicate matched names.
  10. Import the data.