On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 Dell Sherk wrote > Did you or someone else say that one could import an Excel spreadsheet > into a database with OpenOffice? I don't know about importing a spreadsheet directly into a database, but Open Office does read MS formats. You could just try it - make a practice copy of the spreadsheet to import. Or, what might be simpler... export the spreadsheet to a plain text file, then import the plain text file to the database. Depending on your software you might have to manually enter database field names. Or, perhaps even easier, because it works between any spreadsheet, database, and plain text editor if the spreadsheet is small enough to fit into the clipboard: Highlight the data-containing portion of the sheet and copy to clipboard (Ctrl-C) then paste into a plain text file (the old NOTEPAD.EXE file works well for this but names are limited to the old DOS 8.3 length.) The spreadsheet rows will be preserved and data in columns will be separated by tabs. If the spreadsheet is too big to fit into the clipboard, do it piece-by-piece by highlighting a number of rows to copy and paste, then go on to the next series of rows. That way you preserve the columns of data. I work between a text file, a scratch spreadsheet and my database when I have a lot of plants to enter into my database. I use an input text file which I cleverly named INPUT.TXT. I made the original write-protected so I can't overwrite it. The original is in my PLANTS folder. I put a shadow of the file on my desktop so I can get to it faster. The file has instructions to me at the top on how to use it, and then a single line containing all the fields in my database: AccessionNumber Genus species Family etc. etc. etc... When it's time to enter plants to the database, I open INPUT.TXT and save it under a new name (usually corresponding to Input20090928.txt) and populate the AccessionNumber column. I use numbers in sequence, so it looks like this: AccessionNumber Genus species Family etc. etc. etc... 1 2 3 4 5.... I didn't design my accession numbers properly. If I had just used incremental numbers I could have used the autofill function of a spreadsheet to populate the numbers. I have to do it mostly by hand in the text file. Next time. I then copy the field names and the accession numbers from the text file to the clipboard and paste the whole thing into the spreadsheet. I wind up with this spreadsheet: AccessionNumber Genus species Family etc. etc. etc... 1 2 3 4 5... Now I can use cut and paste to populate the various fields. For example, if I'm entering irids, I copy Iridaceae to the clipboard, highlight the required boxes in the spreadsheet, and paste. For vendors, addresses, etc. I find the same vendor in my database, open a view with the data in rows rather than the entry form, and copy the required fields. Then I paste this into my scratch spreadsheet. I wind up with something like this: AccessionNumber Genus species Family etc. etc. etc... 1 Freesia alba Iridaceae etc etc etc 2 Freesia corymbosa Iridaceae etc etc etc 3 Freesia refracta Iridaceae etc etc etc 4 Freesia viridis Iridaceae etc etc etc 5... Once they're all done I copy the whole thing, column labels and data, from the scratch spreadsheet to the clipboard, and then paste the whole thing into the text file. I delete everything from the text file except what I just pasted. Then I save and close the file. I go to my database and use the import function to import from a plain text file. I specify fields are separated by tabs and the text file column headings represent database field names. Then I import. This saves a lot of time over manual entry. Leo Martin Phoenix Arizona USA