Step 1 - Preparation of Data

Before you can import the data you must do the following:

• Get the data you want to import into your site into a format that can be imported - in this case a CSV file.
• Create the Content Type that the data will be imported into.

Getting the Data into a CSV File

In order to import the data, the content needs to be in a format that can be read by the Feeds importer – in this case a CSV file which is a text format that can be generated with an Excel spreadsheet.  If the data is already in table form, where each field is in its own column, you can copy and paste it from the web page directly to an Excel Spreadsheet. If not, you will need to do some configuration to ensure the data can be mapped to the fields in your content type. Important Note: If you do not have a unique field in your listing, you will need to create a GUID field/column to ensure no overlap of data.

Creating a View with Tabular Data**

If you are importing from another YaleSites (D6 or D7) you can create a page display in a View using the Table format, where each column contains a where the data displays. Be sure to set the view to display all records.

Creating the Content Type**

The Content Type is where the data is transferred with the fields module. For each column in your table/or text field, you need to have a field where the data ultimately will live. For this example, we would create a Content Type with the following fields:

• Department – Text Field
• Chair – Text Field
• Phone – Text Field
• FAX – Text Field