Importing is the primary way to get data from other applications into Now X. Now X supports importing contact information from vCard and Now Up-to-Date & Contact v5.x formats. For events, Now X supports importing calendars in iCalendar format and Now Up-to-Date format. The default keyboard shortcut to import is "Shift-Command-I". It is also possible to import data via Apple's Sync Services (see Sync article).
Initiating an import
When the import command is selected, the first dialog box that Now X displays is a standard file selector. Use the file selector to pick the file you want to import into Now X. File formats that Now X supports are selectable, while other file types are not.
Supported contact file formats: vCard, Now Up-to-Date & Contact v5.x
Supported calendar file formats: iCalendar, Now Up-to-Date v5.x
There are four options available when importing a file - Tag, Sync, Link, and Time Zone. Tag and Sync are always visible, while Link and Time Zone are options that are only available when importing Now Up-to-Date & Contact files. The link option is only visible for Now Up-to-Date & Contact files when a link has already been established. (Now X searches for Now Up-to-Date & Contact preferences files to determine linked calendar and contact files). The Time Zone option is used only for Now Up-to-Date file imports, and allows you to specify the time zone used in your Now Up-to-Date file.
Below is an example of a Now Contact file being imported, so only two of those options are shown.
Now X Import Dialog - Example importing a file called "Business Contacts.nct". This is the second
dialog that would appear in the Import process, since the first is the standard file selector.
The Tag option defines a Tag to be assigned to all the events or contacts about to be imported. Tags are a way to group related contacts and events in a way that you can quickly find again. Using a Tag for an import, especially a unique Tag, makes it easy to see what was imported with this specific file even if you're looking at this data later after you've completed the import.
The pulldown menu next to the checkbox specifies which Tag to use. Now X provides three default values - the word "Import" along with the file name, the word "Import" with today's date, and lastly just the word "Import". Below these default Tags is a list of all the Tags already defined in the Now X database. Additionally, you can simply clear the text in the pulldown menu and type whatever new tag you want to assign to the incoming contacts or events.
Now X Import Dialog Close-up - Note the existing Tags listed below the separator. A new Tag can
be created simply by typing in the drop down field (the blue highlighted text in this example).
The Sync option sets the reserved tag "Sync" to be attached to each incoming contact or event. This Tag is in addition to the Tag you set with the first checkbox and pulldown menu. Sync is a special Tag that allows a contact or event to be synced with Sync Services, and then eventually to a device such as a cell phone. Setting this checkbox is an easy way to tell Now X that you want all the contacts and events you are importing to be synced.
The third import option is Link. This will only be displayed when a Now Up-to-Date & Contact file is being imported, and that file has a link established to a related file. In Now Up-to-Date & Contact, links are used to connect files to each other. When linked files are detected, a third option will be displayed, as in the example below.
Now X Import Dialog - Example with linked Now Up-to-Date & Contact files. Note how there is now a "Next" button
and a "1 of 2" to indicate there will be a second dialog box to enter the options for the second file to import.
With the third option enabled, the buttons at the bottom of the screen change to reflect that now there will be an additional dialog box displayed. That additional dialog box will ask about the import options for that file separately from this first one that was selected. This is convenient because both files can be imported in succession, rather than having to do each import separately. Note that order is not important for importing linked Now Up-to-Date & Contact files - either the calendar or the contact file can be selected to start the import process.
For Now Up-to-Date files, the time zone needs to be specified by the user. Now X will use the current system time zone as a default, but this can be overridden by the user if it is incorrect.
After the dialog setup process is complete and the "Import" button is selected, Now X will import the selected files. Another dialog box is presented to show the progress of the import. Progress for importing is also shown in the Activity panel in any workspace window.
Now X Import Progress Bar - Example of the import progress status. When importing linked Now Up-to-Date files, two of these
progress bars will appear, one for each file.
Clicking the close button next to the progress bar will stop the import process where it is. Contacts or events that were imported before canceling will still be in available in Now X.
If the software encounters any issues while importing Now Up-to-Date & Contact files, a dialog box will appear. The dialog will display all the errors encountered during the import process, including: the name of the contact or event, the level of the error, and any information to help the user with the nature of the error. Should there be errors on both contacts and calendar for Now Up-to-Date & Contact files, there is a navigation control to switch between the two error lists. Click the left and right arrows to the right of the imported file name to navigate between the error lists. Lastly, there is a "Save..." button that allows the user to save the contents of the error message for later review.
Now X Import Error Dialog - Example of the import error dialog for a Now Contact file. In this case the photo for an attachment
cannot be found on the filesystem. This detailed information helps a user track down the issues so they can be corrected post-import.
