OL97: Converting Windows Cardfile Files to Outlook

Microsoft does not provide a converter to import Microsoft Windows Cardfile files into Microsoft Outlook 97. This article describes two workarounds for importing these files.

Workaround 1

Use the Import/Export Add-on Pack for Schedule+ Version 7.0, to import the Windows Cardfile file into Schedule+ and then into Outlook. There are three steps to do this:

• Install the Import/Export Add-on Pack for Schedule+ 7.0.
• Expand and run the converter.
• Import the Default.scd file into Outlook.

Install the Import/Export Add-on Pack for Schedule+ 7.0

1. Download the Import/Export Pack from the Microsoft Web site:
   http://www.microsoft.com/Office/previous/scheduleplus/convert.htm (http://www.microsoft.com/Office/previous/scheduleplus/convert.htm)
2. Save the file to the following location:
   c:\Program files\Microsoft Office\Office

Expand and Run the Converter

1. Double-click the file, Sch_suplfilt.exe in:
   c:\Program files\Microsoft Office\Office
2. Run the converter by double-clicking the file, Ilxlate.exe in:
   c:\Program files\Microsoft Office\Office
3. On the Transfer menu, click Import.
4. In the Available Systems list, click Windows Cardfile/Calendar and click OK.
5. In the Section list, click to select Cardfile.
6. Type the name or browse to the Cardfile file to be converted.
7. On the Fields tab, map the Cardfile fields to the appropriate Schedule+ Contact fields, and click Import.

This will generate a Schedule+ default.scd file.

Import the Default.scd File into Outlook

1. On the File menu, click Import and Export.
2. Click to select "Import from Schedule+ or another program or file" and click Next.
3. Click Schedule+ 7.0 and click Next.
4. Type the name or browse to the Default.scd file and click Next.
5. Click to select, "Import 'default.scd(Contacts)' into 'Contacts'" and click Map Custom Fields.
6. Map the incoming Schedule+ fields to the appropriate Outlook Contact fields, click OK and Finish.

The default.scd file is imported into Outlook.

Workaround 2

NOTE: This workaround requires that you have access to a computer with Microsoft Windows 3.x installed. Microsoft Windows 95 does not include the Cardfile program.

You can import Windows Cardfile files into Outlook using a three-step Process.

• Print the Cardfile records to a text file.
• Manipulate the comma-delimited file in Microsoft Word.
• Import the tab-delimited file into Outlook.

Print the Cardfile Records to a Text File

1. In Windows 3.x, click the Printers icon in Control Panel.
2. Configure the Generic/Text Only printer driver to the FILE port.
3. Open the .crd file you want to import.
4. On the File menu, click Print Setup.
5. In Print Setup, click to select Specific Printer, click the Generic/Text Only driver and then click OK.
6. On the File menu, click Page Setup, click to clear the Header and Footer check boxes, set the Left Margin to zero, and click OK.
7. On the File menu, click Print All.
8. Type a name for the file including the desired path and a .txt extension, and click OK.

Manipulate the Comma-Delimited File in Microsoft Word

To convert the text file to a table, follow these steps:

1. In Word, open the .txt file from the above steps.
2. On the Edit menu, click Select All.
3. On the Table menu, click "Convert Text to Table."
4. In Number Of Columns, type 18, click "Separate text at Paragraphs", and click OK.
5. Delete any completely empty columns by selecting them, and on the Table menu, click Delete Columns.
6. Verify that the fields of each record are in the correct column. Those that are not must be manually adjusted.
7. Place the cursor in the first row of the table and on the Table menu, click Insert Rows.
8. In the newly inserted row, type a field name for each column.

To convert the table to tab-delimited text, follow these steps:

1. On the Table menu, click Select Table.
2. On the Table menu, click "Convert Table to Text."
3. In Convert Table To, click "Separate text with Tabs" and click OK.

To enclose fields in quotation marks and replace tabs with commas, follow these steps:

1. Type a double quotation mark in front of the first character in the file.
2. On the Edit menu, click Replace.
3. In Find What, type "^p", in Replace With, type ("^p"), and click Replace All.
4. In Find What, type "^t", in Replace With, type (","), click Replace All and click Close.
5. On the File menu, click Save As.
6. Type a name for the file and in Save As Type, click Text Only and click Save.

Import the Tab-delimited File into Outlook

1. On the Outlook File menu, click Import and Export.
2. Click "Import from Schedule+ or another program or file" and click Next.
3. Click "Comma Separated Values" and click Next.
4. Browse to or type the name of the comma-delimited file and click Next.
5. Click the folder you want to import the records into and click Next.
6. Click to select "Import '<filename.txt>' into '<foldername>.'"
7. Click "Map Custom Fields" and map the incoming Cardfile fields to the appropriate Outlook fields and click OK and Finish.

For more information on importing Schedule+ files, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: A freeware utility to convert Cardfile databases into tab-delimited text files is available on some bulletin boards. This utility, TRANSFIL.EXE, is in an archived file named CARDXLT2.ZIP. It is also available directly from the author: