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Importing tabular text files
Tabular text is ASCII text arranged in rows and columns, separated by tabs. When you import a tabular text file into a view, each text row becomes an individual document, and each text column becomes a field. The original table cell contents become field contents.

When importing tabular text into a view, you must select an IBMR Lotus NotesR form to accept the data. There is a limit of 1536 total characters per record (row) when importing tabular text into a view.

Perform the following steps:

1. In a view, click File > Import.

2. Click Tabular Text in the Files by type list.

3. Select the file's drive and directory and then select the file.

4. Click Import.

5. Select the form you want to use to import the tabular text in the Use Form section of the Tabular Text Import dialog box. The field names in the form file must correspond to the field names used in the Lotus Notes view (for example, name, address, phone number, and so on.).

6. If you want to import the text only, specify the number of header or footer lines that you want Lotus NotesR to ignore in the file in the Page Layout section of the Tabular Text Import dialog box. The Lines per Page setting establishes how many lines of text each Lotus Notes document receives. The total number of lines in the imported documents are calculated as:

7. Click Main Document or Response Document in the Import as list according to how you want the text to appear in the view.

8. If you are using a form where your fields need to be calculated, click Calculate fields on form during document import. This option appears if you have formulas in your text.

9. If the ASCII file and view have different formats, you need to use a format file so individual components correspond to the columns in the view or the fields in the document. Click Use format file and then Choose format file to select the format file to use. A format file has the extension .col and is sometimes called a column descriptor file.

10. Click OK.