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Advanced Importing

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Moriah Elliott
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Summary: This technical guide provides advanced directions for importing complex data (such as Tags, Attendance, and Notes) into Tithely, focusing on how to efficiently generate missing Breeze IDs using the Excel VLOOKUP() formula and how to handle special characters using Open Office and UTF-8 encoding.

Before You Begin

  • This guide is for users who are technically inclined and confident with Excel.
  • You need access to an export of your People data to get a list of names and their corresponding Breeze IDs for the VLOOKUP() reference table.
  • The VLOOKUP() formula is used to automatically cross-reference names and fill in the correct Breeze ID.

Detailed Import Directions for the Following File Types

Step-by-Step Instructions

Associating Breeze IDs Using VLOOKUP()

  1. Export your current People data from Tithely to get a complete list of names and their associated Breeze IDs.
  2. Open your import file (Attendance, Notes, etc.) and your exported People data (which serves as your lookup table).
  3. Insert the VLOOKUP() formula into the empty Breeze ID column of your import file:
VLOOKUP Part Name Description & Example
needle Search Reference Select the single cell containing the person's name (or merged first/last name) you want to look up. Example: A2
haystack Lookup Range Select the range of cells in your exported People data that includes the name column (must be the first column) and the Breeze ID column. Example: Sheet2.2:24
index Column to Return Enter the column number within your selected haystack range that contains the Breeze ID. Example: 2
  1. Drag the formula down the column to automatically populate the Breeze IDs for all entries.

Handling Special Characters in CSV Imports

  1. Do not open your CSV file directly with Excel if it contains special characters (e.g., á, é, ó, 汉字).
  2. Download and Open the free program Open Office (https://www.openoffice.org).
  3. Open the CSV file within Open Office.
  4. When prompted, Select "Unicode (UTF-8)" in the Character set field. [This allows the special characters to be read properly and avoids data corruption.]

Troubleshooting & FAQs

  • My VLOOKUP formula is returning errors/wrong IDs: Ensure the needle (the name you are searching for) exactly matches the name format in the first column of the haystack (your People export). Also, ensure your haystack range is correctly locked using the dollar sign (e.g., 2:24).
  • Why can't Excel handle special characters correctly? Excel often struggles with how it treats encoding when opening CSV files, leading to improper character formatting. Open Office allows you to manually force the Unicode (UTF-8) encoding.
  • Where can I see an example of the VLOOKUP formula in action? You can download the example Excel file provided in the original instructions for a practical demonstration..

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