Export (MLS)

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MLS allows data to be exported so that the data can be used by other applications. The export file option in MLS contains confidential Church information and must only be used by Church officers for official Church purposes. This data must not be used for personal, political or commercial purposes, and it must be deleted from all personal electronic devices when Church officers are released from their callings. These exported files should be carefully secured and guarded. Church information downloaded to personal digital assistants (PDAs) for authorized use by priesthood leaders should also be password protected.

Note: This format documentation is unofficial. It has been derived by empirical analysis of files exported from MLS. It is current as of MLS 3.2.0.

Stake export files

For stake MLS, the following files can be exported:

Membership data (Membership.csv)

Identical to ward MLS Membership.csv format below, but with two extra columns at the end of each record as follows.

Additional columns in stake Membership.csv Export File Format

Column Name	Description	MLS Usage
Unit Name	Abbreviated name of the unit with each member's record.	Not the same as formal name of unit.
Unit Number	Church unit number of the unit with each member's record.	Integer digits.

Organization data (Organization.csv)

This file contains stake callings, and is identical to ward MLS Organization.csv format below, but with two extra columns at the end of each record as follows.

Additional columns in stake WardOrganization.csv Export File Format

Column Name	Description	MLS Usage
Unit Name	Abbreviated name of the unit.	Not the same as formal name of unit.
Unit Number	Church unit number of the unit.	Integer digits.

Ward organization data (WardOrganization.csv)

This file contains specific ward leadership callings that are transmitted to the stake. The format is identical to ward MLS Organization.csv format below, but with two extra columns at the end of each record as follows. Note that the Unit Name and Unit Number columns are the same as in the other stake export files listed above, but for this particular export file, the field names in the column header are blank.

Additional columns in stake WardOrganization.csv Export File Format

Column Name	Description	MLS Usage
	Abbreviated name of the unit.	Not the same as formal name of unit.
	Church unit number of the unit.	Integer digits.

Family data

• CSV: PalmFamily.csv
• vCard: MLS Families vCard.vcf

Individual data

• CSV: PalmIndividual.csv
• vCard: MLS Individuals vCard.vcf

Ward export files

For ward MLS, the following files can be exported:

Membership data (Membership.csv)

• Each column name and data element, regardless of data type and including Null data, is enclosed in double quote marks. There is an extra trailing comma at the end of each line.
• Records are grouped by household and sorted by "Full Name" of Head of Household, then "HH Order" within household.
• The format of this file varies according to the global MLS setting in System Options > System. If the ward has selected "Use Full Names" there, the "Preferred Name" column will be omitted entirely.

Membership.csv Export File Format

Column Name	Description	MLS Usage
Indiv ID	Unique integer ID assigned incrementally by local MLS application.	Not confidential. This is just an arbitrary key for database purposes when member is added to MLS database. Does not follow member from one unit to another. If the same member moves out of the unit and moves back in, a new "Indiv ID" will be assigned.
Full Name	Full name of member, corresponding to name on member record at Church headquarters.	Format is "Last Name, First Names" or "Last Name, First Names Suffix" Example: "Smith, William Jacob" or "Smith, William Jacob Jr"
Preferred Name	Preferred name of member, entered locally in MLS.	Format is "Last Name, First Names" Example: "Smith, Billy" If no "Preferred Name" has been entered manually in MLS, the value defaults to the same as "Full Name" If the ward has selected "Use Full Names" System Option in MLS, the "Preferred Name" column will be omitted entirely.
HofH ID	Unique integer ID assigned incrementally by local MLS application for household.	Not confidential. This is just an arbitrary key for local database purposes to relate household members. Does not follow household from one unit to another. If household moves out of the unit and moves back in, a new "HofH ID" will be assigned.
HH Position	Verbal description of position of this member within household.	Values: "Head of Household", "Spouse", "Other"
HH Order	Integer code for position of this member within family. Assigned by local MLS. Unique within household.	Values: 1 for Head of Household; 2 for Spouse; 3 and up for Other
Household Phone	Common phone number for this member’s household. There is only supposed to be a single number recorded as a matter of procedure, but this is not necessarily enforced.	No format is enforced.
Individual Phone	Phone number that is the primary contact for this individual member. In the case of children under 18, permission from parents or guardians is required to record this data.	No format is enforced.
Household E-mail	Common e-mail address for this member’s household. There is only supposed to be a single address recorded as a matter of procedure, but this is not necessarily enforced.	No format is enforced.
Individual E-mail	E-mail address that is the primary email for this individual member. In the case of children under 18, permission from parents or guardians is required to record this data.	No format is enforced.
Street 1	First line of primary street address for this household.	(MLS does not maintain individual addresses per member.) No format is enforced.
Street 2	Second line of primary street address for this household.	(MLS does not maintain individual addresses per member.) No format is enforced.
D/P	D/P address component of primary address for this household.	Not used in U.S. Addresses. (MLS does not maintain individual addresses per member.) No format is enforced.
City	City of primary address for this household.	(MLS does not maintain individual addresses per member.) No format is enforced.
Postal	Postal code (such as U.S. Zip Code) of primary address for this household.	(MLS does not maintain individual addresses per member.) No format is enforced.
State/Prov	State or province of primary address for this household.	(MLS does not maintain individual addresses per member.) Format is spelled-out, upper- and lower-case. Example: "New York"
Country	Country of primary address for this household.	(MLS does not maintain individual addresses per member.) Format is spelled-out, upper- and lower-case. Example: "United States"
2-Street 1	First line of alternate mailing address for this household.	(MLS does not maintain individual addresses per member.) No format is enforced.
2-Street 2	Second line of alternate mailing address for this household.	(MLS does not maintain individual addresses per member.) No format is enforced.
2-D/P	D/P address component of alternate mailing address for this household.	Not used in U.S. addresses. (MLS does not maintain individual addresses per member.) No format is enforced.
2-City	City of alternate mailing address for this household.	(MLS does not maintain individual addresses per member.) No format is enforced.
2-Zip	Postal code (such as U.S. Zip Code) of alternate mailing address for this household.	(MLS does not maintain individual addresses per member.) No format is enforced.
2-State/Prov	State or province of alternate mailing address for this household.	(MLS does not maintain individual addresses per member.) Format is spelled-out, upper- and lower-case. Example: "New York"
2-Country	Country of alternate maiing address for this household.	(MLS does not maintain individual addresses per member.) Format is spelled-out, upper- and lower-case. Example: "United States"
Ward Geo Code	Ward-specific code assigned to represent geographic area of this member's household.	No format is enforced other than max length of 8, and no geographic properties are guaranteed by MLS. Null ("") unless a value has been entered manually in MLS.
Stake Geo Code	Stake-specific code assigned to represent geographic area of this member's household.	No format is enforced other than max length of 8, and no geographic properties are guaranteed by MLS. Null ("") unless a value has been entered manually in MLS.
Sex	Gender of this member.	Values: "Male", "Female"
Birth	Date of birth.	Format is "d Mon yyyy" Example: "2 Dec 2012" "" if unknown.
Baptized	Date of baptism.	Format is "d Mon yyyy" Example: "2 Dec 2012" "" if no baptism recorded.
Confirmed	Date of confirmation.	Format is "d Mon yyyy" Example: "2 Dec 2012" "" if no confirmation recorded.
Endowed	Date of endowment.	Format is "d Mon yyyy" Example: "2 Dec 2012" "" if no endowment recorded.
Rec Exp	Month temple recommend expires.	Format is "Mon yyyy" Example: "Dec 2012" "" if no recomend expiration recorded.
Priesthood	Priesthood office held by this member.	Values: "" (for females); "Unordained" (for males without priesthood); "Deacon", "Teacher", "Priest", "Elder", "High Priest", "Seventy", "Apostle" (The "Apostle" value is unverified.)
Mission	Flag indicating whether this member has served a full-time mission.	Values: "Yes", "No"
Married	Marital status of member.	Values: "Single", "Married"
Spouse Member	Flag indicating whether this member’s spouse is a member of the Church.	Values: "Yes", "No", "N/A" (for single member)
Sealed to Spouse	Flag indicating whether this member is sealed to current spouse.	Values: "Yes", "No", "N/A" (for single member)
Sealed to Prior	Flag indicating whether this member is sealed to prior spouse.	Values: "Yes", "No"

Organization data (Organization.csv)

• Each column names and data element, regardless of data type and including Null data, are enclosed in double quote marks. There is an extra trailing comma at the end of each line.
• Records are sorted by "Org Seq", then "Pos Seq".
• The format of this file varies according to the global MLS setting in System Options > System. If the ward has selected "Use Full Names" there, the "Indiv Name" column will contain the full name.

Organization.csv Export File Format

Column Name	Description	MLS Usage
Org Seq	Unique integer ID for this organization.	Assigned by local MLS or by Church headquarters?
Organization	Name of organization.	Examples: "Bishopric", "Primary"
Pos Seq	Unique integer ID for each position.	Assigned by local MLS for each position within a unit organization.
Position	Name of position.	Example: "Bishop" Position name is not coded in this export file as either standard or custom. Apparently the name itself is the key to this.
Ldrshp	Flag indicating whether this position is classified as a leadership post.	Values: "Yes", "No"
Indiv ID	Integer code uniquely identifying member holding this position.	Corresponds to "Indiv ID" field of Membership.csv file. "" if position is vacant.
Indiv Name	Name of person holding this position.	Typically corresponds to "Preferred Name" field in Membership.csv file. If the ward has selected "Use Full Names" System Option in MLS, the "Full Name" column from Membership.csv will be used instead. "" if position is vacant.
Sustained	Month this member was sustained.	Format is "Mon yyyy" Example: "Dec 2010" "" if no sustaining recorded.
Set Apart	Flag indicating if member has been set apart in position.	Values: "Yes", "No"

Home teaching data (HomeTeaching.csv)

• Each column name and data element, regardless of data type and including Null data, is enclosed in double quote marks. There is an extra trailing comma at the end of each line.
• There is one record in this file for each household in the ward, even if it is not assigned to a home teaching companionship or quorum.
• Records are sorted by the "Full Name" field of the Head of Household for the family being taught, even though this field does not appear in the HomeTeaching.csv file itself.
• The format of this file varies according to the global MLS setting in System Options > System. If the ward has selected "Use Full Names" there, then name columns will contain the full name.

HomeTeaching.csv Export File Format

Column Name	Description	MLS Usage
Quorum	Quorum of companionship assigned to teach this household.	Values: "Elders", "High Priests" If there is more than one Elders Quorum in the ward, the values may be "Elders 1" or "Elders 2". "Elders 1" may appear even if there is only one quorum. "" if household is unassigned. Note that the way MLS functions, there is no way to assign a household to a quorum without assigning it to a companionship.
HT District	Integer ID assigned by MLS to the district of the companionship teaching this household.	This "HT District" value is unique within each quorum. The number of districts per quorum varies with user entry in MLS when districts are defined. There can be ordinal gaps if districts are deleted. "" if household is unassigned.
Supervisor	Name of supervisor of the HT District.	Value typically corresponds to his "Preferred Name" in Membership.csv file. If the ward has selected "Use Full Names" System Option in MLS, the "Full Name" column from Membership.csv will be used instead. "" if household is unassigned or if Supervisor is unassigned to the HT District.
Supv Phone	Phone number of supervisor.	Value corresponds to his "Individual Phone" from Memberhship.csv if he has one, otherwise it is his "Household Phone". "" if household is unassigned, if Supervisor is unassigned to the HT District, or if Supervisor has no phone values in Membership.csv.
Comp ID	Integer ID assigned by MLS to the the companionship teaching this household.	This "Comp ID" Value is unique for each companionship within MLS across all quorums and Relief Society combined. "" if household is unassigned.
Home Teacher 1	Name of first home teacher in this companionship.	Value typically corresponds to his "Preferred Name" in Membership.csv file. If the ward has selected "Use Full Names" System Option in MLS, the "Full Name" column from Membership.csv will be used instead. "" if household is unassigned to a companionship or this home-teacher position is vacant within an assigned companionship.
HT 1 Phone	Phone number of first home teacher in this companionship.	Value corresponds to his "Individual Phone" from Membership.csv if he has one, otherwise it is his "Household Phone". "" if household is unassigned to a companionship, if this position is vacant within an assigned companionship, or "Home Teacher 1" has no phone values in Membership.csv.
HT 1 E-mail	Contact email address of first home teacher in this companionship.	Value corresponds to his "Individual E-mail" from Memberhship.csv if he has one, otherwise it is his "Household E-mail". "" if household is unassigned to a companionship, if this position is vacant within an assigned companionship, or "Home Teacher 1" has no email values in Membership.csv.
Home Teacher 2	Name of second home teacher in this companionship.	Value typically corresponds to his "Preferred Name" in Membership.csv file. If the ward has selected "Use Full Names" System Option in MLS, the "Full Name" column from Membership.csv will be used instead. "" if household is unassigned to a companionship or this home-teacher position is vacant within an assigned companionship.
HT 2 Phone	Phone number of second home teacher in this companionship.	Value corresponds to his "Individual Phone" from Membership.csv if he has one, otherwise it is his "Household Phone". "" if household is unassigned to a companionship, if this position is vacant within an assigned companionship, or "Home Teacher 2" has no phone values in Membership.csv.
HT 2 E-mail	Contact email address of second home teacher in this companionship.	Value corresponds to his "Individual E-mail" from Memberhship.csv if he has one, otherwise it is his "Household E-mail". "" if household is unassigned to a companionship, if this position is vacant within an assigned companionship, or "Home Teacher 2" has no email values in Membership.csv.
Household	Name of this household.	Name is typically constructed by parsing the "Preferred Name" field for the Head of Household and Spouse (if any) from Membership.csv file according to the following rule: (Preferred Last Name of Head of Household), (Preferred First Name of Head of Household) [ & (Preferred First Name of Spouse)] If the ward has selected "Use Full Names" System Option in MLS, the "Full Name" column from Membership.csv will be used to construct this name instead. Example: "Smith, Bill & Ginny Sue"
Household Phone	Phone number of this household.	Value corresponds to "Household Phone" of Head of Household in Membership.csv file.
E-mail Address	E-mail address of this household.	Value corresponds to "Household E-mail" of Head of Household in Membership.csv file.
Street 1	First line of primary street address of this household.	Value corresponds to "Street 1" of Head of Household in Membership.csv file.
Street 2	Second line of primary street address of this household.	Value corresponds to "Street 2" of Head of Household in Membership.csv file.
D/P	D/P address component of primary address for this household.	Not used in U.S. addresses. Value corresponds to "D/P" of Head of Household in Membership.csv file.
City	City of primary address of this household.	Value corresponds to City of Head of Household in Membership.csv file.
Postal	Postal code (such as U.S. Zip Code) of primary address of this household.	Value corresponds to Postal of Head of Household in Membership table.
State/Prov	State or province of primary address for this household.	Value is spelled out, upper- and lower-case. Example: "New York" Value corresponds to "State/Prov" of Head of Household in Membership.csv file.
Country	Country of primary address for this household.	Value is spelled out, upper- and lower-case. Example: "United States" Value corresponds to Country of Head of Household in Membership.csv file.

Visiting teaching data (VisitingTeaching.csv)

• Each column name and data element, regardless of data type and including Null data, is enclosed in double quote marks. There is an extra trailing comma at the end of each line.
• There is one record in this file for each adult sister in the ward, even if she is not assigned to a visiting teaching companionship.
• Records are sorted by the "Preferred Name" field of the sister to be taught, unless this field does not appear in the VisitingTeaching.csv file because of system settings. In that case, records are sorted by the "Full Name" field.
• The format of this file varies according to the global MLS setting in System Options > System. If the ward has selected "Use Full Names" there, then name columns will contain the full name.

VisitingTeaching.csv Export File Format

Column Name	Description	MLS Usage
VT District	Integer ID assigned by MLS to the district of the companionship teaching this sister.	This "VT District" value is unique within the Relief Society for a ward. The number of districts varies with user entry in MLS when districts are defined. There can be ordinal gaps if districts are deleted. "" if sister is unassigned.
Supervisor	Name of supervisor of the VT District.	Value typically corresponds to her "Preferred Name" in Membership.csv file. If the ward has selected "Use Full Names" System Option in MLS, the "Full Name" column from Membership.csv will be used instead. "" if sister is unassigned. "(No Supervisor)" if Supervisor is unassigned to the VT District.
Supv Phone	Phone number of supervisor.	Value corresponds to her "Individual Phone" from Membership.csv if she has one, otherwise it is her "Household Phone". "" if sister is unassigned, if Supervisor is unassigned to the VT District, or if Supervisor has no phone values in Membership.csv.
Comp ID	Integer ID assigned by MLS to the the companionship teaching this sister.	This "Comp ID" Value is unique for each companionship within MLS across all priesthood quorums and Relief Society combined. "" if sister is unassigned.
Visiting Teacher 1	Name of first visiting teacher in this companionship.	Value typically corresponds to her "Preferred Name" in Membership.csv file. If the ward has selected "Use Full Names" System Option in MLS, the "Full Name" column from Membership.csv will be used instead. "" if sister is unassigned to a companionship or this visiting-teacher position is vacant within an assigned companionship.
VT 1 Phone	Phone number of first visiting teacher in this companionship.	Value corresponds to her "Individual Phone" from Membership.csv if she has one, otherwise it is her "Household Phone". "" if household is unassigned to a companionship, if this position is vacant within an assigned companionship, or "Visiting Teacher 1" has no phone values in Membership.csv.
VT 1 E-mail	Contact email address of first visiting teacher in this companionship.	Value corresponds to her "Individual E-mail" from Memberhship.csv if she has one, otherwise it is her "Household E-mail". "" if household is unassigned to a companionship, if this position is vacant within an assigned companionship, or "Visiting Teacher 1" has no email values in Membership.csv.
Visiting Teacher 2	Name of second visiting teacher in this companionship.	Value typically corresponds to her "Preferred Name" in Membership.csv file. If the ward has selected "Use Full Names" System Option in MLS, the "Full Name" column from Membership.csv will be used instead. "" if sister is unassassigned to a companionship or this position is vacant within an assigned companionship.
VT 2 Phone	Phone number of second visiting teacher in this companionship.	Value corresponds to her "Individual Phone" from Membership.csv if she has one, otherwise it is her "Household Phone". "" if household is unassigned to a companionship, if this position is vacant within an assigned companionship, or "Visiting Teacher 1" has no phone values in Membership.csv.
VT 2 E-mail	Contact email address of second visiting teacher in this companionship.	Value corresponds to her "Individual E-mail" from Memberhship.csv if she has one, otherwise it is her "Household E-mail". "" if household is unassigned to a companionship, if this position is vacant within an assigned companionship, or "Visiting Teacher 1" has no email values in Membership.csv.
Sister Taught	Name of sister to be taught.	Value typically corresponds to her "Preferred Name" in Membership table. If the ward has selected "Use Full Names" System Option in MLS, the "Full Name" column from Membership.csv will be used instead. Example: "Smith, Ginny"
Phone	Phone of this "Sister Taught".	Value corresponds to her "Individual Phone" from Membership.csv if she has one, otherwise it is her "Household Phone".
E-mail Address	E-mail address of this "Sister Taught".	Value corresponds to her "Individual E-mail" from Memberhship.csv if she has one, otherwise it is her "Household E-mail".
Street 1	First line of primary street address of this "Sister Taught".	Value corresponds to "Street 1" of "Sister Taught" in Membership.csv file.
Street 2	Second line of primary street address of this "Sister Taught".	Value corresponds to "Street 2" of "Sister Taught" in Membership.csv file.
D/P	D/P address component of primary address for this "Sister Taught".	Not used in U.S. addresses. Value corresponds to "D/P" of "Sister Taught" in Membership.csv file.
City	City of primary address of this "Sister Taught".	Value corresponds to City of "Sister Taught" in Membership.csv file.
Postal	Postal code (such as U.S. Zip Code) of primary address of this "Sister Taught".	Value corresponds to Postal of "Sister Taught" in Membership table.
State/Prov	State or province of primary address for this "Sister Taught".	Value is spelled out, upper- and lower-case. Example: "New York" Value corresponds to "State/Prov" of "Sister Taught" in Membership.csv file.
Country	Country of primary address for this "Sister Taught".	Value is spelled out, upper- and lower-case. Example: "United States" Value corresponds to Country of "Sister Taught" in Membership.csv file.

Family data

• CSV: PalmFamily.csv
• vCard: MLS Families vCard.vcf

Individual data

• CSV: PalmIndividual.csv
• vCard: MLS Individuals vCard.vcf

How to export data

1. From the File menu of MLS, choose Export...
2. Check the boxes for the data files you wish to create (see Export Files above).
   • If the currently logged in MLS user does not have "Admin" permissions at the time the export is selected, the options to export the Membership and Individual files will not be presented in the MLS user interface.
   • Palm file formats can be customized (see Palm Export below).
3. Enter an MLS administrator's user name and password as an additional security message. If you are logged in Note that you must have MLS administrator rights in order to authorize an export.
4. Specify the folder where the files will be created. Note that any existing files will be overwritten with no confirmation.

Permissions

An export of data from MLS can only be authorized by an MLS user with "Admin" (full) user permissions. As the export is initiated, a confirmation dialog is presented where an "Admin" user must enter his user name and password. If the currently logged in user is an administrator, he can simply enter his password again; otherwise, the user will need to have an administrator supply his user name and password.

Family/individual exports

The Family and Individual exports will each offer the option to create either:

• A CSV file for Palm devices in the same format that has been available for several years; or
• A vCard file, which may be imported into Microsoft Outlook and other applications.

vCard export

Versions of Microsoft Outlook prior to Outlook 2007 will only import the first record in these multi-record files.

Palm family export

The standard Palm import/export format includes the following columns:

PalmFamily.csv Export File Format

Excel Column	Description	MLS Usage
A	Last Name	Full name in "Last, First" format
B	First Name	not used (but Palm or Outlook import will typically parse a Last Name field that contains a comma to find the First Name)
C	Title	not used
D	Company Name	Unit Name
E	Work Phone #	not used
F	Home Phone #	Phone Number 1
G	Fax Phone #	not used
H	Other #	Phone Number 2
I	Email address	Household e-mail address
J	Address	Street 1 and Street 2 combined
K	City Name	City
L	State or Province Name	State/Prov
M	Zip or Postal Code	Postal Code
N	Country Name	Country
O	Custom field 1	Ward GEO Code
P	Custom field 2	Stake GEO Code
Q	Custom field 3	not used
R	Custom field 4	not used
S	Text note field (up to 4 Kb size)	Multiline field with detailed family or individual information. The amount of information included is controlled by the Customize options selected from MLS during the export.
T	Privacy flag	(0 = not private, 1 = private) MLS sets this to 0 for all records.
U	Category	The Category field is not exported from MLS, but you may find it helpful to set that field to something like "Stake Directory" or "Ward Directory" in the CSV file before doing the import so that all your imported records will be tagged with a category that makes it easy to distinguish imported records from your other contact records.

Palm individual export

The columns of the PalmIndividual.csv file do not match those in PalmFamily.csv. For some Palm applications, you may need to insert or otherwise adjust columns in PalmIndividual.csv to match those in PalmFamily.csv before importing into the application.

PalmFamily.csv Export File Format

Excel Column	Description	MLS Usage
A	Last Name	Full name in "Last, First" format
B	First Name	not used (but Palm or Outlook import will typically parse a Last Name field that contains a comma to find the First Name)
C	Title	not used
D	Company Name	Unit Name
E	Work Phone #	not used
F	Home Phone #	Phone Number 1
G	Address	Street 1 and Street 2 combined
H	City Name	City
I	State or Province Name	State/Prov
J	Zip or Postal Code	Postal Code
K	Country Name	Country
L	Custom field 1	not used
M	Custom field 2	not used
N	Custom field 3	not used
O	Custom field 4	not used
P	Birth Date	In YYYYMMDD format
Q	Text note field (up to 4 Kb size)	Multiline field with detailed family or individual information. The amount of information included is controlled by the Customize options selected from MLS during the export.
R	Privacy flag	(0 = not private, 1 = private) MLS sets this to 0 for all records.
S	Category	The Category field is not exported from MLS, but you may find it helpful to set that field to something like "Stake Directory" or "Ward Directory" in the CSV file before doing the import so that all your imported records will be tagged with a category that makes it easy to distinguish imported records from your other contact records.

For Palm devices, import the appropriate CSV file into the Palm Desktop application on your PC and then synchronize with your Palm handheld device. Note that for some versions of Palm Desktop, columns H and I are reversed, you may have to make a slight adjustment to the field order as you do the import, but this is easily done using the Palm Desktop import function.

Export custom reports or the Quarterly Report

Custom reports and the Quarterly Report cannot be exported from MLS to a PDA using the regular export program in MLS. Instead, while viewing the report (such as the Quarterly Report) on the screen, click the report window and, while holding down the mouse button, press CTRL-SHIFT-C. This will copy the table of data to the clipboard. In a word processor or spreadsheet program, press CTRL-V to paste the data. Then save the data in the format needed and download the data to a PDA using the Active Sync or Hot Sync programs.

Outlook import

The MLS export files PalmFamily.csv and PalmIndividual.csv are designed for Palm devices. However, with a couple of simple steps, the Palm data can be easily imported into Microsoft Outlook. Most Windows CE handheld devices use Outlook as the PC application where data is stored for synchronization with the handheld device.

Preparing the CSV file

You can simplify the import process by adding a header to the Palm files exported from MLS. This header will contain the field names preferred by Outlook, and so the fields in the Palm files will automatically be mapped to the correct Outlook fields. If you don't do this, you will be allowed to map fields as part of Outlook's import process, but this is tedious and would have to be done every time you import data.

The header is a single row inserted at the top of the CSV file. It should look something like this (fields that MLS does not export in the Palm format are listed as Fnn):

"Name","F02","F03","Company","F05","Home Phone","F07",
"Home Phone 2","E-mail Address","Home Street","Home City",
"Home State","Home Postal Code","Home Country","User 1",
"User 2","F17","F18","Notes","Private","Categories"

Importing the data

To import data into Outlook, follow the following steps:

• Select File | Import and Export
• Choose "Import from another program or file"
• Choose "Comma Separated Values (Windows)"
• Browse to the file (PalmFamily.csv or PalmIndividual.csv)
  • Select the options for handling duplicate records. For the first import it most likely doesn't matter, but for subsequent imports, you probably want to "Replace duplicates with items imported."
• Select the Outlook folder for the information. This should be the Contacts folder or a subfolder of the Contacts folder.
• Map custom fields to make sure that the correct data goes into each Outlook field. This step is unnecessary if you added the field name header to the CSV file before importing.

Language dependencies in MLS exports

Main article: MLS export language dependencies

The .csv files above contain several strings (literal text values) that are specific to the language settings of the MLS installation doing the export.

The documentation in this Wiki article is English-centric. So the file names, column names, and tabular dictionaries of column descriptions and content above only cover the English examples that have been analyzed so far. For other languages, see MLS export language dependencies.