Support

Prospects Influential Inc sends its data out in excel format unless otherwise requested. If you are planning to import your data into contact management programs like ACT!, Access or Outlook and would like the data to be send as a .txt file, please let us know and we’ll be to format your accordingly.

To make our electronically transmitted data faster and more efficient, Prospects Influential Inc compresses and bundles it into a ‘zip’ file. The Zip format is the most popular compression format used in the Windows environment. To access the files in a Zip file, you need a compression utility such as WinZip.

If this program is not already on your computer, you can download it here. After you have installed WinZip, you can open a Zip file by double clicking it in your e-mail attachment or Explorer window or by starting WinZip and choosing Unzip or install from an existing Zip file in the WinZip Wizard. (If the WinZip Wizard does not open by default when you start WinZip, just click the Wizard button in the toolbar). The WinZip Wizard will guide you through the process of unzipping your file.

Importing Data

"How do I get my data into my computer program?"

• ACT!
• Microsoft Access
• Microsoft Outlook

Spreadsheets

Microsoft Excel and other similar spreadsheet software, will display the columns at the same defaulted width, regardless of the length of information placed within the column. The programs also display the information either as text or numerals.

These defaults can make your data appear odd and unreadable. By simply adjusting the column’s formatting, you can transform the information into understandable and usable data.

• Phone Numbers - spreadsheets regard all numbers equally, whether they are phone number or numbers used in a mathematical calculation. So the phone number 866 944 2313 is actually being regarded as 8,669,442,313. In addition, the number is wider than the columns’ defaulted width, so the spreadsheet can't display it properly. As a result, scientific notation, is used to shorten the display making the number look something like 8.66E+09

  Fortunately it’s an easy fix. You will need to widen the columns in order to properly display the phone number.

  • Click on the letter at the top of the columns you wish to widen,. (to select multiple columns, hold down Shift while clicking on multiple columns)
  • Click Format/Column/Auto Fit Selection

  The columns are now wide enough to show the data properly.

• Zip Codes - Zip codes beginning with a zero may be displayed with only 4 numbers instead of 5. As spreadsheets regard all numbers equally, they figure it's improper to display a zero at the beginning of a number.

  The easiest fix for this is to import the file into Excel with all fields marked as "text".

  • Make sure that the name of your file ends in ".txt". If need be, rename the file's extension. To do this, find the file where you saved it (usually My Documents), right click on it, and choose Rename.
  • Click File/Open and change the Files Of Type to "All Files". Browse to the location of the file. Double-click the desired TXT file.
  • An Import wizard will display. The steps are:

  1. Delimited

  2. Comma and/or Tab

  3. Highlight all columns at the bottom (scroll to the right, hold down the shift key and click on the rightmost column) and choose Text for the Column Data Format. Click Finish.

  • Check to see that the zeroes are there, and save the file in Excel format (.xls).

  Mail Merging

  "How do I print mailing labels with my data, using MS Word?"

  Please note that these instructions are provided for reference purposes only. While our List Brokers are more than happy to assist you in importing your data, we are not certified experts on each of the above named programs. If a problem arises that we cannot solve we may ask you to contact the respective application's technical support department for further guidance on issues beyond our qualifications.