Importing Spreadsheets into a List


One of the most common questions about SharePoint is whether existing data can be input into a list easily. Luckily, SharePoint includes the capability to take an existing spreadsheet and automatically input it into a list in a site. The import mechanism automatically creates the necessary columns and rows of data directly from the spreadsheet. This way, you do not have to re-input this information, thus saving yourself a great deal of time.

NOTE

Just as with Datasheet view, importing spreadsheets requires Excel 2003. It is important to note, however, that once the spreadsheet has been imported, it can be viewed from other systems that do not have Excel 2003 installed.


To import a spreadsheet into a SharePoint list, perform the following steps:

1.

From the home page of the site, click the Create button on the top bar.

2.

In the Custom Lists section, choose Import Spreadsheet.

3.

Enter a name and a description for the spreadsheet.

4.

Under Import from Spreadsheet, enter the file location of the spreadsheet you want to import. You can also click Browse to locate the spreadsheet.

5.

Click the Import button.

6.

Excel 2003 will open up, and you'll see a dialog box similar to the one shown in Figure 20.3. You will need to enter the range you want to input. You can do this by choosing Range of Cells and typing in the range manually (a whole sheet can be entered by typing in Sheet1!$1:$65536, for example). You can also select the Underscore button on the right of the Select Range text box and select the cells you want to import.

Figure 20.3. Importing a Spreadsheet


7.

Click Import when you are ready.

After the spreadsheet is imported, you may need to go into it in SharePoint and clean it up a bit, because the import mechanism does not always translate the columns the way you might want it to. Using the import technique, however, saves a Site Administrator an incredible amount of data entry time.



    Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft SharePoint 2003 in 10 Minutes
    Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft SharePoint 2003 in 10 Minutes
    ISBN: 672327236
    EAN: N/A
    Year: 2004
    Pages: 181

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