You can import information from an Excel spreadsheet into Music Collector Database.
The basic steps are:-
CSV (comma separated ) File.
Music Collector Database uses a csv file to import information from a spreadsheet file. Each column is separated by a comma ie Abba, Greatest Hits, 1979
Any commas that appear within the information in a column will cause a problem because the Program will treat the comma as a separation marker.
For example:-
If you have a title The Best, From The Seventies This will cause a problem because of the comma after Best. If this comma is present when you import this entry in the spreadsheet will be ignored. A row number will appear in the ‘Row With Errors’ list. This will tell which row had a problem.
An Easy Way To Remove All Commas
Open your csv file and click on the ‘Edit’ drop-down menu at the top.
Select ‘Replace’
In the ‘Find What’ box enter a comma
Leave the ‘Replace With’ box empty.
Click on the ‘Replace All’ button. All commas will be removed.
Test A CSV File For Extra Commas
You can test one of your csv files before you try to use it to import. This will give you an opportunity to remove any extra commas before you try to import. Select the csv file by clicking on the ‘Select Spreadsheet File To Import From’ button. The file name will appear in the ‘Import From This File’ box. Click on the ‘Test This CSV File’ button. Any rows with extra commas will be displayed in the ‘Rows With Errors’ list. Make a note of these row numbers, open your csv file and remove the commas from that row. There should be now commas shown in any of the information in your spreadsheet.
Too Few Commas
It has been found that some versions of Excel remove commas from the csv file when you save it. So after you have added your column titles you should test the csv file again. If you get an error message saying ‘Too Few Commas’, click on the Add Commas button to restore the correct amount of commas per line.
How To Prepare Your Excel Spreadsheet For Import.
Open your spreadsheet
From the File drop-down menu at the top select ‘Save As’
From the ‘Save As Type’ list box, select csv (commas delimted)
Click on Save.
You will now have created a copy of your Excel spreadsheet in csv format.
You must now open the csv file and change the column heading to match those in Music Collector Database.
For example:-
If the first column contains the Artist name make sure the column title is ARTIST.
By column title , we mean the first row in each column should contain one of the column titles listed below.
You must match your other column titles to one of the database fields below. Use only one title You may have to change some to match those below.
ARTIST
TITLE
LABEL
CAT NUM
YEAR
FORMAT
GENRE
COUNTRY
CONDITION
LOCATION
NOTES
BUY
VALUE
SOLD
SPARE
TRACK1
TRACK2
DURATION1 – Duration of track 1
DURATION2 – Duration of track 2
You must make sure you use these heading ie for SPARE1 don’t use SPARE 1
NOTE: Any information can go in any of the ‘Spare’ fields, these can be renamed afterwards.
The four user defined columns should be titled:-
SPARE1, SPARE2, SPARE3 and SPARE4
NOTE: If you have two column titles with the same name, the last one will be used which will probably result in the wrong information being imported into the wrong database field.
After changing the column title, save your changes and close the file.
Test your csv file for any extra or too few commas as described above.
When you are happy with your csv file, click on the ‘Start The Import’ button. If you spreadsheet contains a lot of entries, please be patient it may take a couple of minutes for the import to complete.
When the import is complete, check the database to ensure that the correct information has been imported to the correct field in the database.
Options
Title Same As Track 1 – This will make the title of every recording imported the same as the Track 1 title.
Spare Field Is A Date – This will import the date and automatically set the Year field.
NOTE the format must be dd/mm/yyyy or mm/dd/yyyy. You MUST have the year in four digit format otherwise the date will not be imported and you will get errors listed in the errors list box.
Auto Detect Date
If you use this option the Program will try to extract the date information whatever format it is in.
EG 03/07/1978, 03/07/78, 3/7/78, 03/07/78 etc. will be imported as 03/07/1978.
Add 20 To Years Below
If you are importing a date like 03/05/09, it could be 1909 or 2009. If you want the Program to import a date as 2009 put a tick in the box ‘Add 20 To Years Below’. You can select the year from the box provided.
For example. If you set the year to 10 all years ending in a number below 11 will have 20 added to the year.
03/03/01 will be 03/03/2001
03/03/09 will be 03/03/2009
03/03/11 will be 03/03/1911
Track 1 And 2 Duration
If you have columns in your spreadsheet for the duration of tracks 1 and 2 you can import these directly in to Music Collector Database.
There are two formats that you duration columns must be in.
MM:SS, minutes and seconds separated by a colon.
Total Seconds, the duration columns contain the total seconds for a track.
You must use either of these formats if you want to import the durations.
To add the track durations, put a tick in the ‘Track 1 And 2 Duration’ check box and select the correct format.
Filter
You can filter the entries you are importing from a spreadsheet, so that no duplicates are imported. If you select to filter the entries, the Program will compare each row in the database against the current database and check to see if the Artist and Title already exist in the database. If they do, the entry will not be imported.