For those of you who have not yet made a decision on what to move to if you have TP6i, you need to do this now!
If you are going to move to Top Producer 7i prior to the end of the month when support ends for 6i, you're fine. If you are going to continue to use 6i beyond the end of May 2007, you need to do an EXPORT, not a backup, now!
If your TP6i crashes after the end of this month, or your hard drive crashes, or your computer is stolen, your backup is useless. All your data will be inaccessible because the backup is only good if you can restore it to your TP6i software, or give it to Top Producer to convert it into 7i.
Now don't go getting all upset at Top Producer. A backup, as opposed to an export, is usable only in the program it was created from, and would be true of Agent Office or any other proprietary software.
If you decide not to go with TP7i, you'll need this export, so you can import it into whatever program you decide to use. If you have an export in an ASCII, CSV, or TXT format, that data can be imported into any other database program. That's why you need to keep a current export, as well as a current backup.
To do an export from TP6i:
Click on - Setup, Export Data, ASCII file export, Display all contacts, Select all, Export contacts, Click on ‘Add' for every field, Export, Key in a file name ending in ".csv" ( no parenthesis), pick a "Folder" to save it into, click OK.
Keep this export current, and no matter which program you move to, you'll have your data ready for import.
With regards to what program you are going to move to, keep in mind that TP7i will be able to import almost ALL of your data from TP6i, they do it for you, for free, and they are currently running a promotion which is for a $60 credit to upgrade to 7i. You can order 7i on my site at http://GaryDavidHall.com/topproducer.htm
Using the export of the 6i data for import into another program is limited to the fields you will see when you are clicking on "Add" when you are doing the export from 6i.
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