If you need to export references to a database program like Access, a spreadsheet program like Excel, or as a comma/tab delimited file, you have to use the export wizard.
| 1. | Open the folder you want to export. If you want to export all references in your database, go to "References | Retrieve All" first. You can also open a collection, smart collection, or run a search. All the references in your current list will be exported. |
| 2. | Click "File | Export" to bring out the "Export References" window. |
| 3. | Click the "Browse" button to select the export folder and give a file name. |
| 4. | Select the "Delimited / Spreadsheet / DB Table" tab and click the "Start" button. |
| 5. | The first step is to select a export file type. The selections are self explanatory, but there are a few things worth mentioning. If you choose to export as a Paradox file, you need to have Borland Database Engine (BDE) installed on your computer. BDE is not installed as part of Biblioscape. If you choose to export in XML file, it may not work in all cases, because if there are special symbols like "/*" in your text, XML parser will treat it as a not well-formed XML file. If you choose to export in "Excel spreadsheet", long text like an Abstract will be cut short. Long text will not be cut if you select "Excel file". |
| 6. | From the second step on, the wizard screens will be different depending on which table type is selected in step 1. Let's use "Excel file (*.xls)" as an example. Many selections in this example apply to other table types as well. In step 2, the box "Include column titles" is checked, so the first row in the Excel spreadsheet will display the database field name. Ex: "Authors", "Title", etc. The option "Export the original value types" will set the spreadsheet column as Date type if this field is a Date type in the database. |
| 7. | When exporting as a spreadsheet, there is no step 3. In step 4, you need to select how dates, times and numbers will be formatted. The settings are self-explanatory, and you can leave it unchanged in most cases. |
| 8. | In step 5, you must decide which data fields should be exported. By default, all fields are selected, so in most cases, users will not need to change this. For each field, you can change its caption, alignment, color, etc. Most users should leave all settings as default and go to the next step. |
| 9. | Step 6 allows you to customize the Header and Footer in the export file. In most cases, there is no need to add a header or footer. |
| 10. | In step 7, you can select the page orientation and margins. They should be left as default in most cases. |
| 11. | In step 8, you must make a big decision about the spreadsheet layout. You have to chose between "columnar", "reversed columnar", and "tabular form". |
The "columnar" selection is the most popular one. It lists database fields as spreadsheet columns and database records as spreadsheet rows.
The "reversed columnar" selection is less used. It lists database fields as spreadsheet rows and database records as spreadsheet columns.
The "tabular form" should be selected if you want to have only two columns that display each record one after another. For each record, the database field name is shown in column one and its value is shown in column two. After all database fields and their values are listed for record one, it will repeat the same list for record two.
| 12. | The last step allows you to select what actions to take after the export. If "open for file view" is selected, Excel will open the exported file automatically. If "email with file attachment" is selected, you will be prompted to enter an email address. You can also chose to merge the file with another one, or set the number of database records to be exported. Click the "Execute" button to start the export process. |
If you want to save all your settings, you can click the "Specifications..." button and give it a name. Then you can just click this button again next time you need to export, and load the saved settings instead of going through the selections again.