Re: Exporting records

[Elizabeth Thomsen <et@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Kyle Banerjee wrote:
> If you want all each field on a separate line with a blank line between 
> each record, is there a reason why using
> 
> L > LIST some of the data in the review file records
> 
> won't work?

This works fine, if you want to actually print the list as is.  What 
many of our libraries need to do, however, is to create a review file 
and get a list into a text file on their PC so they can open it in Word, 
do a little formatting, add a heading and print it.  Libraries do all 
sorts of more complicated lists for their webpages or using Access or 
Excel for more control, but there's still a need to get the data into 
Word and do a list to hand out at a Trustees meeting or to a reading 
group, etc.  These are quick, simple projects, and I need a quick, 
simple process for people to go from the review file to the finished 
product.

We've been doing this by having people e-mail the text to themselves, 
and then save the message as a file on their PC that they can open in 
Word and edit.  This works pretty well, once people get used to it, but 
I am looking for a way to skip the e-mail step and save the file 
directly to the PC.  List has the option to put a line between records, 
but not to save to the PC, and Export has the ability to save to the PC, 
but not to put a line between records.  I guess what I need is Export, 
but with a record terminator.

The reason that I want to eliminate the e-mail step is that we have 
people using a wide variety of e-mail programs, including Pine, 
web-based mail programs and any number of IMAP clients.  The issues with 
saving a message as a file, or copying and pasting the text, differs 
depending on the e-mail program, so going through mail makes it harder 
for us to do training, documentation and support, and makes the process 
sound more confusing than it is.

But it looks like we're going to be using mail for this kind of project, 
while we move to Export for projects where we really need a delimited file.

-- 
Elizabeth Thomsen, Member Services Manager
NOBLE: North of Boston Library Exchange
Danvers MA 01923
et@xxxxxxxxxx