43.16 Importing and Exporting Addresses and Address Books

Use the Import and Export features to transfer your existing GroupWise and third-party personal address books into and out of a GroupWise. GroupWise address books are best exported in .nab format and should be used to avoid information loss. Importing address books is also more accurate if the .nab format is used. You can also import and export your personal groups.

You can also share personal address books. See Sharing an Address Book with Another User.

43.16.1 Importing a GroupWise Personal Address Book

GroupWise address book files are text files with specific formatting. GroupWise 18 and later version .nab files use UTF-8 character encoding and cannot be imported into earlier versions of GroupWise. However, you can export the .nab files in ANSI character format, which is compatible with earlier versions of GroupWise. The .nab files created by earlier versions of GroupWise can be imported into GroupWise 18 and later versions.

NOTE:You cannot import addresses into the GroupWise Address Book.

  1. If you have received a GroupWise personal address book (.nab file) as an attachment, right-click the attachment, click Save As, select the folder or disk where you want to save it, and then click Save.

  2. In the Main Window, click Address Book toolbar icon on the toolbar.

  3. Select the address book that you want to import into or create a new personal address book.

    For more information, see Creating a Personal Address Book.

  4. Click File > Import.

  5. Browse to and select the address book .nab file that you want to import, and then click Open.

  6. If you have any duplicate contacts in the address book you are importing into, use the Merge, Replace, or Skip buttons to resolve those contacts as they appear in the Entry already exists dialog box.

  7. Once the import is finished, click Close.

43.16.2 Importing Contacts from a vCard

A vCard can contain either a single contact or multiple contacts. GroupWise supports either format.

To import information into an address book from a vCard you have received:

  1. Right-click the vCard, and then click Import.

  2. Click the address book where you want the information to be added, and then click OK.

43.16.3 Importing Third-Party Address Books

You can currently import contacts from a CSV file.

Importing Contacts with a CSV File

To import a CSV (comma-separated values) file:

  1. In the Main Window, click Address Book toolbar icon on the toolbar.

  2. Click File > Import.

  3. Select the .csv file, and then click Open.

  4. Select the address book you want to import addresses into, and then click OK.

    or

    Click New to create a new personal address book to import the addresses into, type a name for the new address book, and then click OK.

    For more information, see Creating a Personal Address Book.

    The Choose GroupWise Fields for CSV Data window is displayed.

    The CSV Fields column lists the data fields as provided in the .csv file. The CSV Data column lists the data provided in the .csv file. The GroupWise Fields column lets you choose the associations between CSV fields and GroupWise fields.

    By default, the import process can recognize characters such as comma (,), semicolon (;), and colon (:) as field delimiters. It can also recognize characters such as quotation marks (") as text delimiters. However, if unusual characters are used as delimiters, the import process won’t recognize them.

  5. If the .csv file does not display in proper columns:

    1. Click Options.

    2. Change the field delimiter character as required by the .csv file.

    3. Change the text delimiter character as required by the .csv file.

      The .csv file should redisplay in proper columns.

  6. Click the left and right arrows to page through the .csv file data.

    The import process attempts to assign the CSV fields to GroupWise fields.

  7. To change an automatic field assignment, click the GroupWise field link that you want to change.

    or

    To select a field assignment, click the Click to choose link.

  8. Select a displayed field.

    or

    Click a field category, and then select the GroupWise field that you want to correspond to the .csv file field.

  9. To not import the data from a CSV field, click the link in the GroupWise Fields column, and then click Clear.

  10. When you are finished assigning field mappings, click OK to import the CSV data into the selected address book.

HINT:You can also initiate an import by dragging and dropping a .csv file into a Contacts folder.

43.16.4 Exporting Addresses from a Address Book

You can export an entire personal address book or export selected contacts from any GroupWise address book and then save the file as a GroupWise Address Book (.nab), a vCard (.vcf), or a comma-separated file (.csv).

GroupWise address book files are text files with specific formatting. GroupWise 18 and later version .nab files use UTF-8 character encoding and cannot be imported into earlier versions of GroupWise. However, the later GroupWise versions can export .nab files in ANSI character format, which is compatible with earlier versions of GroupWise.

The .nab and .vcf file types are preferred because they handle complex data without loss. For example, if you export a distribution list as a .nab or .vcf file, members of the distribution list are included in the exported file. However, if you export a distribution list as a .csv file, only the name of the distribution list is exported.

Export Entire Personal Address Book

To export an entire personal address book:

  1. In the Main Window, click Address Book toolbar icon on the toolbar.

  2. Click File > Export.

  3. Select the personal address book that you want to export and click OK in the Choose Address Book dialog box.

  4. Browse to and select the folder where you want to export the file.

  5. Type a file name for the exported file, and select the format you want to export to in the Save as type drop-down list.

  6. Click Save.

Export Selected Contacts

To export individual contacts from an address book:

  1. In the Main Window, click Address Book toolbar icon on the toolbar.

  2. Multi-select the contacts that you want to export from an existing address book.

  3. Right-click one of the selected contacts, and select Export.

  4. Browse to and select the folder where you want to export the file.

  5. Type a file name for the exported file, and select the format you want to export to in the Save as type drop-down list.

  6. Click Save.