You can import the client names, addresses, and telephone numbers in RTG Bills as contacts in Microsoft* Outlook*.

Microsoft Outlook is sold as part of Microsoft Office, which includes Word, Excel, and possibly other programs.

The instructions provided here were tested with Outlook 98, as it was shipped with Microsoft Office 97 Small Business Edition. It is possible that other versions of Outlook will require somewhat different procedures.

1. Run Outlook 98.
   
   
2. Choose File, Import and Export... from the menu. You should see the Import and Export Wizard.
   
   
3. Under Choose an action to perform, select Import from another program or file. Click Next.
   
   
4. Under Select file type to import from, scroll down and choose Microsoft Access. Click Next.
   
   
5. Under File to import, enter the filename of the RTG Bills database. This is C:\Rtgbills\Rtgbills.mdb if RTG Bills was installed in the folder C:\Rtgbills. The file may be in a different folder on your system, but the name of the database file is always Rtgbills.mdb.
   
   Note that capitalization is ignored, so it doesn't matter if you enter all lower-case letters, all upper-case letters, or a combination.
   
   In the Options frame, select Replace duplicates with items imported. Click Next.
   
   
6. Under Select destination folder, select Contacts. Click Next.
   
   
7. Under The following actions will be performed, you will see many items, all of the form Import "XXX" into the "Contacts" folder. The item you want says, Import "Clients" into the "Contacts" folder. It is most likely the very first item. Click the box to the right of this item. You should see a checkmark.
   
   Do not click Finish yet!
   
   
8. Here is the tricky part. You should see a button labeled Map Custom Fields .... It should be to the right of the list of actions and above the button labeled Change Destination ....
   
   If you do not see the Map Custom Fields button, follow the instructions in Part 2. If you do see the button, skip Part 2 and go to Part 3.

If you didn't see a Map Custom Fields button in Part 1 of these instructions, exit from Outlook. You need to download a patch from Microsoft to add this feature to Outlook 98.

The patch is described on a Web page entitled Outlook 98 Patch: Importer Field Mapping. The following link should take you to the proper page on the Microsoft Web site:

Download the patch

Follow the instructions to download the file field98.exe. Double-click the file to run it from your hard disk. It patches your copy of Outlook 98.

Now repeat Part 1 above. When you see the Map Custom Fields button, you can proceed to Part 3 below.

At this point you have checked the item Import "Clients" into the "Contacts" folder. You should see the Map Custom Fields button on the right.

1. Click Map Custom Fields. You should see the Map Custom Fields window.
   
   
2. The client name in RTG Bills is represented by ClientName in the list on the left. If all of your client names are individuals, drag ClientName from the list on the left and drop it on Name on the right.
   
   However, if some of your client names are company names, we recommend a different mapping. Drag ClientName from the list on the left and drop it on Company.
   
   
3. Drag ClientAddress from the left and drop it on Business Address.
   
   
4. Scroll down the list on the right until you see Business Fax and Business Phone. Drag ClientPhone from the left and drop it on Business Phone. Drag ClientFax from the left and drop it on Business Fax.
   
   
5. Scroll further down on the right until you see User 1. Drag ClientAlpha from the left and drop it on User 1.
   
   It would be preferable if you could import the client abbreviation as the File as field in Outlook, but this doesn't appear to be possible.
   
   
6. Click OK. This takes you back to the previous window. Click Finish.

Outlook will now import your clients into its Contacts folder.

You should now see all of your clients when you view the Contacts folder in Outlook. (Click the Contacts shortcut on the left or choose Go, Contacts from the menu.)

The clients probably won't be in the proper alphabetical order, but that is easily fixed.

1. Choose View, Current View, Customize Current View from the menu.
   
   
2. You should see the View Summary window. Click the Sort... button.
   
   
3. You should see the Sort window. We want to sort by the User 1 field, which is the client abbreviation from RTG Bills. (We hope you filled them in properly in RTG Bills!)
   
   At the bottom of the window is a drop-down list labeled Select available fields from. Choose All Contact fields from this list.
   
   
4. At the top of the Sort window is the Sort items by frame. Choose User 1 from this list. (The items in the list are arranged alphabetically, so it is near the end of the list.) Click OK.
   
   
5. Outlook displays a message telling you that User 1 is not shown in the view. Click Yes if you want to see the client abbreviation for each entry or No if not.
   
   Choose Yes if you have other contacts, besides the clients, in Outlook. You will need to enter a value for the User 1 field for them, and that is easy to do if the field is shown for every contact.
   
   
6. You will see the View Summary window again. Click OK.

The clients will now appear in the same order as they do in RTG Bills on the Alphabetical Client List. If they are not in the correct order, then you need to fix the client abbreviations in RTG Bills. Do not fix them in Outlook if you plan to update this list from RTG Bills again, because the changes will be lost.

What will you do when the client list changes? You can make changes in both RTG Bills and Outlook, or you can make the changes in RTG Bills and import the client list into Outlook again.

If you choose to make the changes in RTG Bills and import the client list again, be sure to specify Replace duplicates with items imported (as suggested in Part 1 above). If you choose Allow duplicates to be created instead, you will get two entries for every client (the old one and a new one).

When you import the client list again, any changes you made to the client in Outlook are lost. For example, if you copied the names of clients who are individuals from the Company field to the Full Name field, that information will be lost.

Microsoft Outlook can import the client list from RTG Bills. It can also display the clients in the same alphabetical order used by RTG Bills.