Finder File Field Mapping

When you create a new file layout, you must map fields in the finder file to fields in the record source against which you import the records. The program attempts to map any recognizable fields in the finder file to known fields in your record data source, such as name and address. We recommend you verify the accuracy of those mappings. You can select to not import individual fields and instead define a field to map to if it does not already exist in the source. For information about file layout fields, see Finder File Layouts.

Under Field Mapping on the Select finder file screen, you can use several tools to complete the mapping.

Before you can successfully import a finder file, you must map all fields included in the file. Rows that display an “x” must be mapped to a source or user-defined field, or specified Do not import. All rows must display the checkmark before you can successfully import the file.

When you right-click on a row and select Do not import, the program does not import the information for the selected field, and no column appears for it in the imported table.

If necessary, you can create a user defined field that is not one of the known fields in your record source. For example, a finder file may contain an Interests field which you want to import even though it is not part of your data source. The program creates a query view that contains all imported finder file fields, so after you import the finder file you can group records based on the Interests field to find everyone who has a particular interest, such as golf.

Because the program saves the file layout, you can use it to import another finder file with the same field. You can then add these finder files to the consolidated query view and group records across both (or all) imported finder files with “Interests” to find everyone from every imported finder file with a specific interest.

Use the arrow buttons at the bottom of the grid to move between rows in the import file.

On the Select finder file screen, the Fields grid contains three columns:

• Field name - The name of the field in the finder file.

• Mapping - A dropdown list of all available fields from the target record source.

• Sample data - The first line of each file as it pertains to the selected file layout, so you can determine the correct file layout and help avoid importing files against the wrong file format.

Warning: You must map the Finder Number and the Source Code fields.

Note: You can only import individual constituents. If you include organizations in the import file they are added as individual records.