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Importing and Exporting Data 1 of 9 © Boardworks Ltd 2010 This lesson will cover: Importing data into a database. Exporting data from a database. Reasons for using external data. Icons key: For more detailed instructions, see the Getting Started presentation Flash activity. These activities are not editable. Teacher’s notes included in the Notes Page Student task accompanies this slide 2 of 9 Web addresses Functional Skills check Printable activity © Boardworks Ltd 2010 Importing data Organizations rely on being able to use, move, buy or sell data. What advantages does importing/exporting data bring? 3 of 9 © Boardworks Ltd 2010 Importing data If you have an external set of data, you may wish to import this into your database. To import external data, go to File, Get External Data and select Import. You can then choose to import the data into a new table or import it into an existing table. If you are importing data into an existing table, you must make sure your field headings match up and are in the right order. Otherwise you will end up with invalid data. 4 of 9 © Boardworks Ltd 2010 Importing and exporting data The most common types of files for importing data are .csv files. If you have spent time creating the correct fields in the right order, then any data imported should automatically be inserted into the correct place. You can also export data from your database and create your own .csv files. To export, simply select File, then Export and choose to save your file as a text file. You will then be able to import this data into spreadsheets and other applications. 5 of 9 © Boardworks Ltd 2010 Which organizations and which data? 6 of 9 © Boardworks Ltd 2010 Zipping files Sending really large amounts of data can be difficult via e-mail due to file size constraints. One way of dealing with this is to zip database files to reduce the size. Zipping involves using software that applies a compression algorithm to data to reduce its size. Many organizations will zip large database files but also encrypt them to avoid breaking the Data Protection Act. 7 of 9 © Boardworks Ltd 2010 Validation When importing data into a database you need to do what you can to ensure the new data will be free from errors. To do this you should: ensure that you format your data or database so that the field headings match up have existing validation rules in place, as this will highlight if any data being imported is invalid. If there are errors, the database software may prevent you from importing all the data, and instead generate an error report. 8 of 9 © Boardworks Ltd 2010 True or false 9 of 9 © Boardworks Ltd 2010