Many Act! users routinely head to the Export Wizard to send their information not realizing that there is a much easier method for exporting Act! data. 

You’ll find the Export Current List to Excel icon at the top of the Contact, Group, Company, Opportunity, History and Task List views. If the button is “greyed out” it means one of two things:

·         You are not a Manager or Administrator of the Act! database, or you are a Standard user but do not have the permission to export to Excel.

·         You don’t have Excel installed on your machine or your version of Excel is not compatible with your version of Act!.  For example, you may be using Act! 2009 but your Office version is 2010 or 2013.

With Act!, exporting Your Act! Data to Excel is as Easy as 1,2,3:

1. Create a Lookup
2. Customize the List View
3. Click the Export Current List to Excel icon.

Create an Act! Lookup

You probably already know how to create a Lookup in Act! to find contact records, but you might not know that you can create a Lookup to find the members of a Group or Company by simply right-clicking the Group or Company name in the list view and choosing Create Lookup. The Contact List view appears with the Group or Company members displayed

Customize the List View

Before you export to Excel, you’ll want to customize the columns on the List View. The data displayed on the Act! list view will be exported to Excel in the same exact order.  There are some easy ways to organize your data prior to the Excel export.

• Reorder the columns in a list view: Hold down your mouse cursor on a column header and drag it to a new location.
• Add a column:  Simply right-click smack dab in the middle of the List View and chose Customize Columns.  A dialog window similar to the one you see below will open. The fields in the right side of the window represent all the fields you are currently seeing in the List View; the fields on the left side represent all the fields that are available for inclusion on the List View including any customized fields you may have created.  If a field does not appear in either list it means that field cannot be exported.  For example, you can’t export your Act! notes.

• Filter the information that you see.

There are several ways to modify the records displayed in these list views before exporting:

·         From the Contact List view: Enable the Tag Mode option, and then click the records you wish to include. Once all records are selected, click Look Up Selected from the toolbar.

·         There is no way to select specific Groups or Companies to export to Excel from the Group List view. You can, however, create a Lookup of Group or Company records  by clicking the Lookup menu, and using a field criteria to narrow the list.

·         The Opportunity List can be filtered to limit the records that will be exported to Excel or you can hold your Ctrl key and click on each record you wish to include in the export, right-click over one of the selected Opportunity, and then click Lookup Selected.

• Sort the information: You can sort your information by clicking on the column heading of the criterion you want to use.  When sorting the Contact List view you can also click the Edit menu and chose Sort to sort by up to three columns.

Export Your Act! Data to Excel

Once your lookup is established and your columns just the way you want them the only thing left is to click the Export Current List to Excel icon.  In a matter of moments Excel will spring to life with a new spreadsheet chock full of your Act! data. 

If you are in need of additional Act! support please call the friendly Act! consultants at Tech Benders at 561-470-5450 or send us an e-mail.