Exporting All Abacus Data

Abacus has extremely flexible export capabilities for any database through the report engine. Notice, however, that the MailMerge option for names will export name information to your word processor, which is the most common need for exported data.

You can export data from any database from the Reports menu. Just set the output of a report to Data/Merge File, and the fields identified in that report are sent to a raw data file instead of to a formatted report. You can select from .DBF, comma-delimited, and WordPerfect formats, among others (Microsoft Word uses comma-delimited or .DBF).

Most databases have a standard report called MailMerge that is setup to export ALL fields in the database, so exporting is usually as easy as:

1. Select File > Reports and select the database (Names, for example).

2. Click Report to see a list of reports. Select MailMerge.

3. At the Report Control window, the Direction should be set to Data/Merge File, so just click Print. You will be prompted to input the output file name if it is not setup.

If your database does not have a MailMerge report, or you want a customized version of one, just add a new report with NO fields (this tells the report engine to export ALL fields). Now run the report with output Direction set to Data/Merge File. If you use a report that has fields defined, only those fields will be exported.

By using the reporting system for exports, you have the ability to:

• Use any index for sorting, including user-defined indexes

• Assign a query to be used every time for that export

• Setup the output filename

• Run the export regularly from a batch, with no further setup!