Perhaps the single most
popular means of storing data is in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.
And even though Alpha Five gives you at least four different ways to
import your Excel data - people still often ask: How do I do it?
What's the best way to get my data from MS Excel into an Alpha Five
table?
And, what if my spreadsheet contains some data, calculations, graphs
and other elements that I don't want to import?
The answer is simple: Get Excel to do the job for you.
In other words, copy the data you want from Excel and paste it into a
new sheet. Save the new sheet as a DBF IV file. Then in Alpha Five,
add the DBF file to your database.
This method is easy and reliable. And in this guide, we're going to
show you exactly how to do it.
So, let's get started.
Select the Data
- Open
MS Excel and open the spreadsheet or workbook that you want to
import.
- Using
your mouse, click and drag over the area you want to import to
highlight it.
- Choose
Copy from the Edit menu, or press CTRL+C to copy the data to the
Windows Clipboard.
II. Paste the Data Into a New Excel
Document
- From
the File Menu choose New, or press CTRL+N.
- Now
click into cell A1 so that it is the active cell.
- Choose
Paste from the Edit menu, or press CTRL+V. The contents of the
clipboard are pasted.
III. Save the File in DBF Format
- From
the File menu, choose Save As. The Save As dialog box appears.
- From
the Save as type drop-down box, choose DBF 4 (DBASE IV)
- Give
the file a name. This will be the name of your table.
- Save
the file in the directory of your choice. Do you already have a
database in which you want to put this table? If so, it's best
to save it in the same directory as the database.
- Close
Excel. It will ask you if you want to save the file in Excel
format - you can click No.
IV. Add the Table to Alpha Five
- Open
Alpha Five.
- Open
the database to which you want to add the table OR create a new
database.
- On
the Alpha Five Control Panel, click the Tables/Sets tab.
- From
the Table menu, choose Add Table/Set.
- The
table you created should appear in the list. If it does not appear,
click the Browse button
 to
find it.
- Highlight
the table in the list and click the Add button.
- Click
OK.
Your table should now appear in the list of Tables and Sets on the
Control Panel. To see the data, double click on the table. A browse
appears.
You're done!
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