Need help with wife's new Blackberry

[iSaint]

My wife's new employer has given her lots of new equipment, including the most recent Blackberry. I've never messed with one, but it's pretty cool and wil be very useful for her down the road. She also has a Dell Inspeferiorwhatever laptop.

However, she (we) have about 1,000 contacts and their info she would like to import into the Blackberry. Her employer has their own web based contact and email database. (I'm not that familiar with all the VPN and other secure access methods these days.) The Blackberry does have Bluetooth, but I don't think her employer wants it activated on the laptop. Her address book will synchronize once all the contacts are manually added to her name address book on their webmail server. But they don't have a way to import the spreadsheet, or any other possible document with her old contacts.

Does anyone have any ideas for getting the spreadsheet uploaded to the Blackberry? Does the Blackberry software have such an option? I'm wondering if it's possible that we use the Bluetooth option for a one time upload?!

I don't have Bluetooth on my iBook, btw.

Thanks in advance!

 

[motherduce]

Blackberry's don't support Macs anyways. I have one, and can't use it sync it with my computer because of the bluetooth doesn't sync with it from my Mac.

 

[mkrishnan]

I cannot personally vouch for it, but this might help you:

http://www.pocketmac.com/products/pmblackberry/index.html

EDIT: I don't understand the nature of the "spreadsheet" of contacts, but you may be able to connive it into Address Book or something similar by converting it to a CSV, or something like this. If you can get that far, this can get it onto the Blackberry, I think.

 

[iSaint]

I cannot personally vouch for it, but this might help you:

http://www.pocketmac.com/products/pmblackberry/index.html

EDIT: I don't understand the nature of the "spreadsheet" of contacts, but you may be able to connive it into Address Book or something similar by converting it to a CSV, or something like this. If you can get that far, this can get it onto the Blackberry, I think.

Thanks, I'll check it out.

The spreadsheet has a row of headers: first name, last name, address, etc. Outlook or Entourage would require a CSV to import a list like this, and I've done that before. I was just curious if Blackberry had their own dbase software I could put this info in, and sync it into the Blackberry.

motherduce I'm surprised there isn't a hack out there somewhere, given Mac's Bluethooth capabilities.

 

[emw]

A guy I work with syncs his BB to his Mac Address Book and Calendar using an application called PocketMac. It's about $30.

If it's in a spreadsheet, I don't think there's a good way to get it into the BB address book, as far as I know. She could also see if she could take the personal spreadsheet and add it to her work address book so it's all synced at the same time.

That's what I've done with mine.

 

[mkrishnan]

A guy I work with syncs his BB to his Mac Address Book and Calendar using an application called PocketMac. It's about $30.

Yes...that's the application that I linked to, and that's also the hack. It might be the only way for blackberries that are not directly supported. Once you use it, you can use iSync to sync.

As for the Excel file, making a CSV is easy, obviously (File -> Save As), but I think you must define the columns and so forth just right...

This is what I would do: using the program of your choice (e.g. Outlook on the PC or Address Book on the Mac), create a dummy contact. You can even make it easier by calling the First Name "First," the last name "Last," and so on. Use all the fields contained in your spreadsheet. Then export this contact as a CSV, and open it in Excel. Now you have a template, and you can adjust your existing spreadsheet to look exactly like this template. Once you do, you save it as a CSV from Excel, and it should import correctly into the app in question.

Do you think that would work?

 

[iSaint]

/////

She could also see if she could take the personal spreadsheet and add it to her work address book so it's all synced at the same time.

That's what I've done with mine.

They tell her they won't/can't do that...such helpful people.

 

[iSaint]

Yes...that's the application that I linked to, and that's also the hack. It might be the only way for blackberries that are not directly supported. Once you use it, you can use iSync to sync.

As for the Excel file, making a CSV is easy, obviously (File -> Save As), but I think you must define the columns and so forth just right...

This is what I would do: using the program of your choice (e.g. Outlook on the PC or Address Book on the Mac), create a dummy contact. You can even make it easier by calling the First Name "First," the last name "Last," and so on. Use all the fields contained in your spreadsheet. Then export this contact as a CSV, and open it in Excel. Now you have a template, and you can adjust your existing spreadsheet to look exactly like this template. Once you do, you save it as a CSV from Excel, and it should import correctly into the app in question.

Do you think that would work?

I do think that would work, but I'm leary of working with her Dell as protective as her employer is. She's the type to do it the hard way: e.g. type them in her work address book one at a time. I maintain a good database of friends/family/former employers, and I'm trying to teach her to do the same with the ease if importing and exporting via spreadsheet/CSV file.

Maybe I wasn't clear in my original post, but she doesn't use Outlook. But, rather, uses the company's online mail client. Everything she does online from her home office is through their web via proxy.

Thanks!

 

[mkrishnan]

I do think that would work, but I'm leary of working with her Dell as protective as her employer is. She's the type to do it the hard way: e.g. type them in her work address book one at a time. I maintain a good database of friends/family/former employers, and I'm trying to teach her to do the same with the ease if importing and exporting via spreadsheet/CSV file.

Can you two take the spreadsheet, transfer it to a Mac, import it into Address Book on a Mac, and then do it this way? This way you do not need to touch the Dell at all, save to get a copy of the spreadsheet....

 

[iSaint]

Can you two take the spreadsheet, transfer it to a Mac, import it into Address Book on a Mac, and then do it this way? This way you do not need to touch the Dell at all, save to get a copy of the spreadsheet....

Yes, I am considering that. She'll make the final decision, though. thanks!!!

 

[emw]

This thread got me to looking again at my BlackBerry. I don't see any way to do multiple syncing of address books - that is, I don't know if you can sync to one, then sync to another and have it not be overwritten. Too bad I don't have the manual handy.

 

[mkrishnan]

This thread got me to looking again at my BlackBerry. I don't see any way to do multiple syncing of address books - that is, I don't know if you can sync to one, then sync to another and have it not be overwritten. Too bad I don't have the manual handy.

But it should be okay, as long as it's okay to merge the address books, right? When you sync to the Mac, for instance, in this case, you'll add anything in it to the Blackberry *and* vice versa. After one sync on each device, they'll start being on the same page.

At least, this is the way most devices work...I messengered appointments and addresses between Outlook and my Mac using my Nokia like this for the better part of a year.

 

[crdean1]

Hello. I use the most current BB, the 8700c. There is absolutely no way to do it via bluetooth since BB's don't support file transfer with their bluetooth, only headsets.

There is probably a way to do it though since BB's read spreadsheets (excel) (once the document is in the inbox of the BB), you might try emailing the spreadsheet (assuming it is excel) to a pop3 email registered with BB webclient or from her work email. When she get's the email on the BB, open the attachment and try importing the info from the attachment viewer to the contacts (may or may not work, just a guess)

Anywho, anytime I have had a question about things like this, I go to www.blackberryforums.com and the folks on the forums there are BB geniuses, they have always found a way for me to do what I need to do. It is set up much like macrumors forums. Hope it works out, I'm sure they will find a way if someone can't here.