OL2000: Unable to Import TSV or CSV File into Outlook

When you import a tab-delimited (TSV) or comma-delimited (CSV) text file into Microsoft Outlook 2000, you may not see the individual fields listed for mapping in the Map Custom Fields dialog box. Instead, all fields are in a row, separated by small box characters.

Open the TSV or CSV file in Microsoft Excel and step through the text import wizard. Save the file from Microsoft Excel in TSV format and use that file for importing into Outlook.

Opening the TSV or CSV File in Microsoft Excel

To open the TSV or CSV file in Microsoft Excel, follow these steps:

1. On the File menu in Microsoft Excel, click Open.
2. Click to select the TSV or CSV file, click Open and if necessary, click Finish.

To Save the File in TSV Format

To save the file in TSV format, follow these steps:

1. On the File menu in Microsoft Excel, click Save As.
2. In the Save As Type list, click to select, "Text (Tab Delimited)(*.Txt)" and then click Save.
3. Quit Microsoft Excel.

Importing the TSV File into Outlook

To import the TSV file into Outlook, follow these steps:

1. On the File menu in Outlook, click Import and Export.
2. In the "Choose an action to perform" list, click to select "Import from another program or file" and then click Next.
3. In the "Select file type to import from" list, click to select "Tab Separated Values (windows)" and then click Next.
4. In the File To Import box, type the path and name or browse to the file to be imported (saved earlier from Microsoft Excel), and then click Next.
5. Click to select the folder you want to import the records into and then click Next.
6. Click to select, Import "<FILENAME>" into the "<Folder name>" folder.
7. In the Map Custom Fields dialog box, click each field name in the From window that you wish to import and drag it to the corresponding target field in the To window, click OK, and then click Finish.