Excel File Conversion Video Script
NOTE: This video applies only to DataLog versions prior to 4.0. A new video is forthcoming.
Hello, and welcome to the AgWare DataLog excel file conversion tutorial video. In this video, I will show you how to convert an excel spreadsheet into DataLog.
DataLog has a conversion feature that makes it possible to map Microsoft Excel spreadsheet sales data to the fields in a DataLog sale sheet. DataLog will convert the first sheet from the Excel workbook alphabetically – not necessarily the first sheet physically. To begin, note the location of the spreadsheet containing the sales data to be converted. This here is an example of sales data to be converted; there is a header row of labels for the various columns of sales data. Next, open DataLog and click on the convert excel file option under the conversion tools menu. This will bring up a screen in DataLog with various options. The first thing you will need to choose is the excel file you would like to convert. Simply click the browse button, and a file explorer window will open allowing you to navigate to the location of your excel file. Click open. You will now see that file path in the box. The next thing you will need to do is choose the folder you would like the converted sales to go into. Again, click the browse button and this will open a window allowing you to either choose an existing folder, or you can create a folder. For this video, I’ll create a new folder and I’ll name it Excel Conversion Demo. Now I’ll highlight my new folder and click okay. You will now see this path in the respective box. The next thing is optional – it allows you to choose one of your templates for the new sales. I’ll skip this option for this video. The next thing is to select which data map to use. If a data map has not already been created, then nothing will appear in the drop down list.
To create a data map, click the data map options button. There are three options – add, modify, and delete; choose add. This will open a new window that will allow you to create the data map. The first thing to do is to select whether or not your first row contains headers. My spreadsheet does contain a header row, so I’ll choose the first option – skip the first row, it contains headers. The software will automatically prepare the data map the best it can. The first column is what was in your excel spreadsheet header. The second column contains the data to be mapped, and the third column is the field in DataLog that the data will export into. You’ll see here that it mapped almost all of my rows correctly; the only one it missed was my number of acres field. I’ll click in the third column blank and you’ll see a drop down arrow appear on the right side of the field; click on it. This will give you a list of all of the fields in DataLog. Because these are my acres, we’ll want to choose Deeded Acres from the drop down list. You can start typing once the dropdown is visible to narrow down the results. After ensuring that the rest of the mapping is correct, click save. This will ask you to name your new data map. I’ll name mine Demo. Now this data map will automatically be chosen, and you can click the start button. This will bring up a preview of the excel file conversion so you can see what the data will look like in the sale. Click “OK – Convert”. Depending on how much data was in your excel spreadsheet, it may take a little while. You will see conversion messages in the message window below the progress bar. When the conversion starts you should see “Starting Excel Conversion: # sales” with the number of your sales shown based on the rows in your spreadsheet. Once the conversion is completed you should see a message that says excel conversion complete.
You should now be able to go to the folder you converted the sales into, and see all of the sales. You can then edit these sales, email them, transfer them to ClickFORMS, etc. These sales are just like any other sale in your local database.
To recap, you can easily convert an excel spreadsheet of sales into DataLog sale files by using the convert excel file feature found in the conversion tools. This is very useful when importing a large amount of data from an outside source such as MLS listings.
I hope this tutorial was helpful for you today. If you have questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at 605-787-7871, or send an email to support@uaar.net. Thank you for taking the time to view this online video, and thank you for choosing the AgWare software.