I have about 2,200 contacts in ACT!. When I run the conversion script (ACT! to Now 1.0.4), it converts about 1,200 of them, then times out. I've tried it several times over, and on two different Macs. But I can't get the entire database to convert. Does anyone know why this is happening, and how to remedy it? By the way, I tried to follow the instructions exactly, but that's impossible, as the directions were written for a different version of Now, and some of the wording in the directions just doesn't apply. So I made the best decisions I could.

Second question, does anyone have the technical capability of mapping the conversion more precisely? In customizing ACT!, I have field names unrelated to the default names. For instance, I have my "home phone" numbers listed under the "secretary" field. I don't want to have to make 2,200 cut-and-pastes, several times over, if it can be mapped properly before the conversion process even gets started.

Thanks!

The best possibilities are either increasing memory allocation to the script that moves the data, or creating a new Act! database(a copy of the existing one) and deleting all the previously moved contacts. Then start the script using the new database to pull data from. As for re-mapping where the script places the data, it would take someone familiar with Applescript to re-write how it operates.

Thanks for your suggestions, Don. I'm not at all familiar with writing AppleScript (for increasing the memory, nor for remapping fields). Is there someone at Now Software (or anyone else you know) available to make the conversion for me — for a small fee? I can provide a chart of the original ACT! fields, the customized ACT! fields, and the proposed Now fields. If so, I think you have a new customer (I'm just running a trial version right now).

Oh, there's one more piece that I'd like to convert from ACT! to Now. Many of my 2,200 contacts can be sorted into one or more groups. For instance, a contact could be a "friend," a "client," someone who's on my Christmas list, etc. I have at least 25 such groups. Is there a way for these groups (or whatever you might call them) to make it in a conversion, so I don't have to recreate the individual assignments manually?

Is there ANYONE out there who can help? I really want to make the switch, but I don't have the technical know-how to do it myself.

If you're running Mac OS X, there is no manual memory management, so that's won't be a factor in why the script is failing.

If you need someone to help modify the script or create a new one, you can do a web search for something like "custom applescript development", you'll find a number of companies that could develop such an AppleScript for you (assuming it's technically feasible, of course). How much they'd charge I don't know, but it's not likely to be a "small fee". Perhaps if there's a Mac user group near you, you could find a member with AppleScript skills that you could work a deal with. You can search for user groups here:

http://www.apple.com/usergroups/find/

Good luck.

Thank you for your response, Dave. I'm not sure I need to "develop" a new script, at least not for re-mapping what information goes from one field in ACT! 2.8 into the appropriate field in Now 5.3.2. I just need to rewrite the existing script, provided by Now Software. I'm willing to go through the amazingly tedious and time-consuming job of recategorizing each contact into new groups, if I can just get the fields to transfer efficiently and accurately.

I've been digging and digging around ACT!, trying to find the corresponding field numbers to those listed in the AppleScript. For instance, where it says:

& {company:item 1} ¬

if I knew which "item" number "company" is considered in ACT!, I think I could make the substitutions, thus have the ACT! fields transferred into the proper Now fields. Unfortunately, ACT!'s Help function doesn't help. Neither has all of the Googling I've done on the subject. I know I've seen the list of fields and numbers at least once in my lifetime, but hours of searching hasn't brought the answer any closer.

I found what I think are the field codes in ACT! 2.8, but apparently the Now converter didn't like me messing with the AppleScript, as it rejected the edits I made. Then again, I have no experience with AppleScript, so I really don't know what I'm doing (that's why I keep asking for help).

Here are the pertinent codes I found:

<0Company>
<1Contact>
<50Alt 1 Title> (business title)
<14Salutation> (where I placed informal names, not Mr./Ms.)
<13Secretary> (where I placed my home phone numbers)
<8Phone> (work phone)
<52Alt 1 Extension> (work phone extension)
<9Fax Phone> (fax number)
<62Car Phone> (cell phone number)
<42Alt Phone> (general business phone number)
<18User 1> (where I placed pager numbers)
<2Address 1> (work address)
<3Address 2> (where I placed additional address info)
<4Address 3> (where I placed additional address info)
<5City> (work city)
<6State> (work state)
<7Zip Code> (work Zip)
<74E-mail ID> (e-mail address or addresses)
<17Referred by>
<24User 7> (name pronounced)
<76Call Date>
<78Call Regarding>
<15Last Results> (where I placed misc. info)
<25User 8> (where I placed misc. info)
<26User 9> (where I placed misc. info)
<64First Name>
<65Last Name>

As for the notes in my ACT! database, they transferred over nicely with the Now-written script. And, as for the! memberships my contacts were grouped into in ACT, I suspect there's no way to make them show up automatically in Now.

I'm sure I'm not the first person in need of this kind of help. And I'm pretty sure there's a person out there who knows (or could easily figure out) how to make this happen. I'm only a one-person business, so I don't have deep pockets. But I'm willing to pay a reasonable amount for someone's time spent in converting this database for me. If you know anyone, please tell me.

Hi,

Have you gotten your contacts imported?

Also, your "groups" in ACT sound like "categories" in Now Contact. Some of my categories are Business, clients, prospects, family, golf courses, pilots, etc.

Also, if you e-mail me the import script, I'll look at it to see if I want to quote a conversion.

Also, if ACT 2.8 running on mac os 9 or osX (or Windows?).

- Alex Shore