Import from ODBC

AY Mail 2. Any Edition
Knowledge of your database structure is required

ODBC stands for Open Database Connectivity. ODBC is a mechanism for accessing arbitrary databases. Most database applications, such as Microsoft Access, Excel, ORACLE, or SQL Server will have ODBC drivers that will let you connect to the database. You must have such a driver installed on your computer before attempting ODBC import.

Before you start ODBC import, you need to have some basic knowledge of the database that you are going to use. Databases consist of tables. You need to know which table(s) you need. It is relatively easy to import data from one of the tables. If you are going to do something more than one table import, you need to contact your database administrator to help you compose a SQL SELECT statement.

We do not recommend using ODBC import for CSV files. CSV files may be imported directly.

To import recipients from an ODBC database:

1. Select File->Import->Recipients List from the main menu. The Import dialog will appear.

2. Select the mode that you want to use for Import and click on the OK button. The Import Source dialog will appear.

3. Select ODBC Database and click on the OK button. The ODBC Import Wizard will appear.

4. You can either select a registered data source on your computer or, if your database is not listed, select an ODBC driver that serves your database. In the latter case, you will have to use the ODBC driver to select the source of your data. Once the database is selected, AY Mail will connect to the database and, if connection is successful, you will be taken to the next step of the ODBC wizard.

5. You will see the list of tables that AY Mail has found in the database. Now you can do one of the following:

Select a table that you wish to import. We recommend this option. Once you select your table, AY Mail will connect to the table that you have specified, will fetch the list of data fields from the table, and will take you to the next step.

or,

Decide to compose your own SQL SELECT statement. This is probably the best choice for database specialists. However, it is not an easy task for average user. Northern Software cannot help you with composing SQL SELECT statements. If you choose this option, you will be presented with the SQL SELECT dialog where you can write your SQL statement. AY Mail will try to execute it for you and, if it succeeds, it will take you directly to step 8.

6. If you do not want to import all recipients, you can specify filters.

The recipients who do not meet the conditions will not be imported. You do not have to specify filters if you want to import all recipients at once. After you select the filters, you will be taken to the next step.

7. You will see the list of data fields found in your table on the left side of the dialog.

Data fields are called columns in ODBC terminology. You need to select the ones that you want to import. Do not forget to select the column containing email addresses. AY Mail cannot import recipients without email addresses. AY Mail will connect to the database and will try to execute your request. If everything is OK, AY Mail will establish a connection and will be ready to download the recipients from the database. You will then be taken to the last step of the ODBC Wizard.

8. At this point AY Mail received the list of the columns resulting from your query, but it does not have data yet, so it needs to know which of the columns contains email addresses.

All the recipients that do not have a valid email address in this column will be ignored. Click on the Finish button to start data downloading.

9. You may be asked to match imported fields using the Match Fields dialog.