Shannon, There are some options to try first. My first, would be to go back to the original Filemaker Pro file, export that as a tab delimited file. I do this quite often, proceeding onto viewing the file in excel to determnine if all the tabbed fields were exported correctly. A little coordination with Past Perfect import characteristics, may solve your problems. I typically use excel as a "workhorse" for prepping data files for import. I am able to cut/paste columns to a desired sequence, add colums, find/replace colums by batch etc. Normally, when finished, the data imports fairly nicely. If you want me to take a look at it, email me at work at: [log in to unmask] (this is what I do for a living). Cheers, Brad --- Shannon Lindridge <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > For those of you who are using PastPerfect out > there, which of the > research methods do you/your volunteers use the > most? > > My dilemma, we converted from FileMakerPro to > PastPerfect going on two > years ago and the program is pretty much unusable do > to the fact much of > the information did not end up in the correct field, > somewhat scattered. > > My plans were to have information entered into the > people field and search > terms field, by volunteers, and have our reference > room volunteers, most > are of retirement age, use the people field and > search terms field for > performing research request for our patrons in our > research library. I > thought this would be the easiest method for our > volunteers to access the > information. > > I have been hesitant to teach our reference room > volunteers the program > for fear of them getting frustrated at not being > able to find the > information they are looking for. I have thought > of training them to do > dataentry, but they are usually to busy to perform > dataentry while working > in the reference room. > > My other dilemma/difficulty has been finding > volunteers who are willing to > do dataentry. > > I would appreciate any guidance, suggestions anyone > can give on training > the "older generation" volunteer a new computer > program, how to recruit > volunteers to do dataentry, and as stated before > what research method(s) > most commonly used in PastPerfect. I have also > cross-posted this message > at Pastime Software. > > --Shannon > > ========================================================= > Important Subscriber Information: > > The Museum-L FAQ file is located at > http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may > obtain detailed information about the listserv > commands by sending a one line e-mail message to > [log in to unmask] . The body of the > message should read "help" (without the quotes). > > If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one > line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] > . The body of the message should read "Signoff > Museum-L" (without the quotes). > Cordially, Brad Holderman ARTIFACT INK - Documentation for the Archaeological Science 8158 Winter Gardens Blvd. #24 Lakeside, CA 92040 (619) 390-7955 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).