Hi - I have been tasked to work with a custom designed FileMaker Pro 6
database with two files, one for contacts and one for organizations
and both are related to each other.

I enter both contact and organization data in the Contacts file and
the organization info is automatically entered in the Organizations
file. I need to import into these files an Excel file where each
record has both contact and organization info.

When I first made an import attempt. I discovered this was not easy.
When I map the data between Excel and FM in FM, the organization
fields are missing from the field list.

Unfortunately I don't have access to the documentation from the
database designer on how to do an import with a setup like this, if
there is one at all.

How does one do an import with a setup like this?

Thanks.

In article
<1183824223.446776.134350 (AT) i38g2000prf (DOT) googlegroups.com>perplexed
<purplecap (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:

Unless I miss my guess, the Organization fields are missing from your
field list because you are in the Contacts file. The Organization
fields don't exist there.
Import pertinent data from the spreadsheet into the Contacts FM file,
then do it again into Organizations.
In the spreadsheet, there is likely no field corresponding to the
relationship key between the two FM files. You would have to add a
field to the spreadsheet and populate it accordingly before import,
and make sure you include that one in the mapping for both imports.
Otherwise you would have no related records between the two FM files.
Matt

What you say makes sense. What if the record I want to import is
already in the FM? I'd be updating that record with the new info. Does
it do a lookup first for info (such as a name) before creating a new
record, if necessary?

Thanks.

On Jul 7, 11:37 am, Matt WIlls <I... (AT) Witz (DOT) End> wrote:

FM6 just adds records, no special treatments available.

If you want a native ability to update existing records on import,
you'll have to move to at least FM7.
A workaround might be to use yet another file as a temporary holding
bin, with relationships to the other two files. The relationships
would allow you to determine if a record in that file alread exists,
and process accordingly.
Matt

In article
&lt;1183841868.539156.264700 (AT) a26g2000pre (DOT) googlegroups.com&gt;perplexed
&lt;purplecap (AT) gmail (DOT) com&gt; wrote: