Business Contact Manager also comes with its own set of import and export tools. To access the wizard, just click the File menu, choose Import and Export, and click Business Contact Manager for Outlook. This is the screen that you will see:

 

 

(Note the warning about importing files: Microsoft recommends that you back up your database before importing a file as it is not reversible.)

 

Let’s take a look at importing a file first. When we put the dot next to Import a File and click next in the above window, here are the options we have:

 

 

Once you click your file type and click Next, you’ll be prompted to locate your file:

 

 

(You’ll notice that duplicate options are pretty limited; you can choose to import items that are already in your database, or you can tell Business Contact Manager not to import those items.)

 

Once you’ve selected your file and clicked next, you’ll be asked where to place the new file:

 

 

In the Import Data part of this box, your file will be listed. In the contacts.csv column next to it, you must choose Business Contacts or Accounts as the destination for the new file. You must also click the Map button to map your fields:

 

 

Mapping fields just means dragging the field from the column on the left to the matching or similar column on the right.

 

Once you’re done mapping the fields, click OK. Then, click Next in the Import wizard. This next screen will confirm that you are ready to import; click Next to import your data. Once it’s done, click Close. Your import is complete!

 

Exporting a file is a good way to back up just part of your Business Contact Manager database. If you want to export a file from Business Contact Manager, we’ll click the File menu, choose Import and Export, and click Business Contact Manager for Outlook. This time, we’ll choose Export a File in the first screen and click Next. This is what we’ll see:

 

 

You can see that our choices are limited to a .bcm file or a .csv file. Here’s what happens if we choose the first option (.csv) and click Next:

 

 

Using the browse button, we can choose where to save the file. (The location will appear in the text box to the left of the browse button.) Then, using the radio buttons, we can choose whether we want to export Accounts or Business Contacts.

 

If we had chosen to export a .bcm file, here are the options we would have:

 

 

We still have to pick where to save the file using the browse button, but our next options are quite different. You can export history (all history or all history without e-mails), and/or your product list.

 

Once you’re done setting the location and options for either file type, click Next. Click Next once more to perform the export, and once it’s done, click Close to return to the main Outlook screen. That’s all there is to exporting your data!