[Solved] Importing into Base from Microsoft Works 4.0

[rogerchristian]

I saw a previous post about updating/importing .csv files into Base, but it didn't seem to address my specific problem. A search didn't yield any usable information.

I am a newbie to Base, been using Writer and Spreadsheet for sometime with no difficulty, and like both apps very much. I have been scared off of Base since it seemed so complicated at first, but I have done a couple of databases the last few days and have had moderate success, I am now sort of over the new use fear factor.

I have been working with Microsoft works 4.0 since 1994 or so, updated some of my files from previous Appleworks files for the Mac, and I am pretty competent with that flat-file DB format. I have a mountain of data stored in the MSW4.0 DB format and since it runs on OS9, it is getting somewhat unstable this far into the world of OSX. I don't necessarily need to import ALL the databases, but some are critical ongoing ones, and if I can pull and update the old data into NeoOffice, it will make my life much easier in the future.

I also have .xls text files from my Point of Sale system which I would love to be able to work with as easily as I can in MSW.

I have tried to import a .csv file directly into Base, but that doesn't work, same for a straight tab-delimited text (.txt) file. these are not huge in terms of size, a few Mb, but they have 50-80 fields and in some cases several thousand records.

So, having said that, I have hit a dead end as to how to approach the issues and where to go from here. Any assistance to get me over this hurdle, if it is possible, will be appreciated and I will have more questions in the future.

Mac Mini PowerPC, OSX v10.4, NeoOffice, just updated this week, 10/6/09.

Thanks.

[rogerchristian]

Using some bits of information gathered from my reading of other posts, it appears I have manged to do what I wanted: import the information directly, via a spreadsheet import, then "get data from spreadsheet" in the database app.

I am sooooo happy.

Now, if I can just do it a few more times, I will have solved my most vexing problems so far.

Thank you all for the bits and pieces. Maybe it is simply being in the presence of great minds.

Roger Christian