Import Ward Directory into OS X Address Book (and iPhone)

I wanted to get my ward directory on my iphone and after a little searching I got it to work well. There may be a better way, but this did the trick for me.

• Download your ward directory in csv format.

• Clean it up (I broke out email addresses into their own columns, and edited family name to just have last name, etc.)
• Make sure all columns have header titles for easier mapping
• Once you have it cleaned up and ready, download and install Address Book Importer
• The rest is pretty explanatory. Just map the fields in the csv with the ones in ABI. You can even have it put all the imported contacts into a group.

Here's a screenshot of mine:




As far as getting it on the iPhone, as you'd expect, the contacts are copied over with the next sync you do between iTunes and the iPhone.


Enjoy!

Thank you for sharing this. I wasn't aware of this program and it has some potential. Keep in mind, however, that Mac users who want to employ this method must have access to the export from the MLS system on the ward computer. There is a CSV and a vCard export from the LUWS membership list, however; it isn't as clean an export as it is from MLS as several of the fields combine multiple items that should be broken out separately. For example, from the LUWS export, the city, state & zip are all contained in one field.

Up to this point I have been exporting from the LUWS membership directory using vCard and then importing that into Mac OS X Address Book. Again, it works but isn't as clean as an export from MLS and the one you have shared.

Thanks again.

Yeah, I did a regular export as csv from the stake and ward website, and then just cleaned them up in Excel (like I mentioned above) so that I could quickly break things into multiple columns as you have mentioned. I wish I had access to the clean version, but for now this worked fine and only took a couple of minutes.

(In MS Excel do data > text to columns to split out city, state, zip, email, etc.)

I just wrote a program to convert the Membership.csv export file to a vCards file. You can download it here:

http://reduxcomputing.com/mls2vcard.zip

It's really easy to use. Just drag the Membership.csv file onto the app icon (before or after running the program is fine). It will prompt you where you want to save the vCards file. Then just drag the vCards file onto your Address Book icon.

Let me know how it works and if I can make make it better in any way.

It was developed under 10.5 and I haven't tested it in previous OS X versions. Let me know if there are any compatibility issues.

I just realized that this was developed under the assumption of a YSA ward, where there are no households, just individual members. I'm not sure if that will change things. Let me know if it does.

Also, since there is some unique information exported in the notes field, it is easy to create a Smart Group in Address Book with a name of something like "Ward Directory" that automatically updates when new records are added. It also makes it easy to do a mass delete and a new import.

Hey, so I was about to attempt using the application generously written by Denvertimothy, but I noticed the Ward websites now have the vcard option on them! I clicked vcard link and Voila!--instant import into my Address book! How long has the vcard link been there??
-Mike Gray

mikengray wrote:Hey, so I was about to attempt using the application generously written by Denvertimothy, but I noticed the Ward websites now have the vcard option on them! I clicked vcard link and Voila!--instant import into my Address book! How long has the vcard link been there??
-Mike Gray

It has been there probably a year or more. I have used it a few times but not all of the information matches up perfectly in the Mac OS X Address Book. For instance, the city, state & zip all goes into the city field in Address Book. But it is very easy to do and thankfully the Macintosh Address Book doesn't have the awful limitation that Outlook does on Windows where it won't import more than one vcard at a time. As you know you take the vcard export from LUWS and drag it into a group you have set up in the Address Book and they all import.

I've discovered that MLS 2.9 now includes an export vCard option. I think that basically eliminates the need for the program I wrote. However, if somebody has a particular need, I happy to help. I can even send the source code.

macsense wrote:...the awful limitation that Outlook does on Windows where it won't import more than one vcard at a time. As you know you take the vcard export from LUWS and drag it into a group you have set up in the Address Book and they all import.

I cannot find any free programs that expand your vcard, allowing you to choose what Outlook folder to put it in. Any suggestions? (Using a PC, not a Mac)

So is the MLS export better to have than the LUWS export if you can get it?

Also, can you import contacts directly into the iPhone without going through syncing with Outlook or another email contact system?

I have been using the LUWS to export vcards to my Mac OS address book for over a year and the data has always separated nicely into the proper fields.... Am I doing something wrong?:)

macsense wrote:Thank you for sharing this. I wasn't aware of this program and it has some potential. Keep in mind, however, that Mac users who want to employ this method must have access to the export from the MLS system on the ward computer. There is a CSV and a vCard export from the LUWS membership list, however; it isn't as clean an export as it is from MLS as several of the fields combine multiple items that should be broken out separately. For example, from the LUWS export, the city, state & zip are all contained in one field.

Up to this point I have been exporting from the LUWS membership directory using vCard and then importing that into Mac OS X Address Book. Again, it works but isn't as clean as an export from MLS and the one you have shared.

Thanks again.

mkmurray wrote:So is the MLS export better to have than the LUWS export if you can get it?

Also, can you import contacts directly into the iPhone without going through syncing with Outlook or another email contact system?

So I think I might use Windows Contacts somehow...

But I still need the question answered whether it is best to use the MLS export (and which one) or the LUWS export?

Thanks in advance.

mkmurray wrote:But I still need the question answered whether it is best to use the MLS export (and which one) or the LUWS export?

I don't know of a definitive answer, but I can think of one factor. MLS is complete. LUWS may have had information or even complete families removed according to their wishes on privacy.

As far as information, most of LUWS's data comes from MLS. The only exception I can think of is the email address.

RussellHltn wrote:As far as information, most of LUWS's data comes from MLS. The only exception I can think of is the email address.

And I believe the Preferred Name is also not being pulled from MLS (yet).

RussellHltn wrote:I don't know of a definitive answer, but I can think of one factor. MLS is complete. LUWS may have had information or even complete families removed according to their wishes on privacy.

As far as information, most of LUWS's data comes from MLS. The only exception I can think of is the email address.

And the MLS export that you would want is the Membership export?

mkmurray wrote:And the MLS export that you would want is the Membership export?

Or is it perhaps one of the Palm Household or Palm Individual exports?

mkmurray wrote:Or is it perhaps one of the Palm Household or Palm Individual exports?

I actually don't use these files for populating any kind of contact manager, phone or PDA. But I think either of these files are what you want and could be made to work, depending on whether you want your records organized by family or person. I think the corresponding vCard files would also work if your app reads those.

Membership.csv is a flat file for general-purpose processing. If your app allows you to map the fields you want for import, I guess it could be done. Be aware that this file includes some pretty sensitive and confidential fields, which cannot be suppressed at export-time.

At the time the Palm/vCard files are being exported, the user can customize some fields for inclusion/exclusion.

The MLS export has a lot more information on the vCard than the LUWS export. You have the same address information as the LUWS, but MLS will also include the preferred name, birthday, age, priesthood, full name, and membership number for each household member in each record. LUWS does not have that information.

To open the vCard on a PC, you need a program that can read the whole set of records--using Outlook will only allow you to see the first record. I have found some commercial packages that allow me to "unzip" the vCard file directly into Outlook, but have not found a freeware package that does. Anyone know of a good one?

So, if you want more information on your contacts (as a Clerk you might), then I would use the MLS export of vCard. If you don't care for the extra stuff, then use the LUWS.

I have also used the membership.csv to import into my calendar before vCard records. It adds a few steps because you have to map certain fields, but you can also get more information from the membership.csv than you get from the Palm files.

Hope that answers your question.

zaneclark wrote:I have been using the LUWS to export vcards to my Mac OS address book for over a year and the data has always separated nicely into the proper fields.... Am I doing something wrong?:)

The times I have imported the LUWS vCard into my Mac OS X Address Book it appears to import into the proper fields just fine. However, upon further examination, when you click on Edit in the Address Book I discovered that the City, State & Zip information were all entered into the City field leaving the State & Zip fields empty. Without going into Edit mode you may not notice this.

macsense wrote:The times I have imported the LUWS vCard into my Mac OS X Address Book it appears to import into the proper fields just fine. However, upon further examination, when you click on Edit in the Address Book I discovered that the City, State & Zip information were all entered into the City field leaving the State & Zip fields empty. Without going into Edit mode you may not notice this.

I tried this using the edit mode and still have all the data in separate fields.... Are you sure you are using a real Mac?:D

I think I'm going to go with LUWS because I want the photos now in my Contacts.

opee wrote:To open the vCard on a PC, you need a program that can read the whole set of records--using Outlook will only allow you to see the first record. I have found some commercial packages that allow me to "unzip" the vCard file directly into Outlook, but have not found a freeware package that does. Anyone know of a good one?

I found a guy's blog post with a VBScript that I think will do the job. He also has another script that helps get a vCard with an embedded photo into Outlook. I am personally trying to write a program that will embed ward photos into the vCard export that exists in LUWS right now. All of the details are here:

http://tech.lds.org/forum/showthread.ph ... #post17988

Can anyone report experience with importing any of the MLS export files, either CSV or vCard formats, into an iPhone?

We just sustained a new bishop today, and he is an iPhone user. We are wondering what his best options are.

boomerbubba wrote:Can anyone report experience with importing any of the MLS export files, either CSV or vCard formats, into an iPhone?

We just sustained a new bishop today, and he is an iPhone user. We are wondering what his best options are.

Definitely easier than through Outlook, I can say that. Address Book is the most forgiving and flexible I have seen of any option of importing (at least for vCards).

Follow my link before your post and you might find some helpful info.

mkmurray wrote:Definitely easier than through Outlook, I can say that. Address Book is the most forgiving and flexible I have seen of any option of importing (at least for vCards).
.

I'm not getting it at a very basic level. Mostly because I am iPhone-ignorant. (Also, we are interested in MLS exports, not LUWS exports.)

Is Address Book an iPhone app that will import the "MLS Families vCard.vcf" file directly? Does the user have to load a Mac first and then sinc the iPhone with the Mac?

boomerbubba wrote:I'm not getting it at a very basic level. Mostly because I am iPhone-ignorant. (Also, we are interested in MLS exports, not LUWS exports.)

Is Address Book an iPhone app that will import the "MLS Families vCard.vcf" file directly? Does the user have to load a Mac first and then sinc the iPhone with the Mac?

No, no, no, no....

So the iPhone syncs with iTunes, no matter Mac or PC. From there you can tell iTunes you want your contacts to be synced with a number of programs (among which are Outlook, Windows Contacts, Gmail, Address Book (built right into OS X), etc). It is one of these programs (or operating system features) that you import the contacts into. Regular iPhone syncing will do the rest.

As for your "MLS, not LUWS" comment, that's fine. I'm not quite sure you got all of what I said in my thread, but I agree there is a lot in there you didn't need to know. The jist of it is that I am trying to hook up photos with vCard exports (first LUWS, then MLS). The only reason I mentioned my thread is that I figured there would be little clues and gems you could pick up from my quest for photos attributed to households. There have been quite a few potholes in the road and I discuss possible ways to fix them (or if I haven't found a fix yet).

Let me know if you need further assistance. Good luck.

FYI

iSilo has a reader for the iPhone (available on the iTune App Store)
http://www.isilo.com/iPhone/iSilo/

iPhone can use WardInfo (free) a software package that formats MLS data for use with iPhone, Pocket PC, smartphones and desktops
http://hcgl.eng.ohio-state.edu/~mills/W ... dInfo.html

and Church Publications for Handhelds for iSilo—Pocket PC
http://www.lds.org/handheld/newarchive/ ... -2,00.html

also, you can read almost any iSilo produced publications and documents
general, law, medical and religion (CS Lewis)

Note: I have used WardInfo for years and appreciate the hard work that Brother Doug Mills has put into making WardInfo a very usable application

pete_arnett wrote:FYI

iSilo has a reader for the iPhone (available on the iTune App Store)
http://www.isilo.com/iPhone/iSilo/

The iSilo reader for iPhone has been updated to version 1.3.1 which fixes a password issue. Users of smartphones devices should use a device password and to also use an iSilo password to protect MLS membership data. The password security is available when using WardInfo, a free software package that formats membership MLS data (Ward or Stake) for use with iSilo reader on shartphones and desktops (etc.) http://hcgl.eng.ohio-state.edu/~mill.../WardInfo.html

Also the following review gives a good overview of the iSilo tool:
Review: iSilo v1.30 for iPhone
By Chris Meadows
http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/11/08 ... or-iphone/

Which points out that PDF, Word, RTF, unaltered HTML, as well as JPEG and other image formats can be used with iSilo for iPhone

I'm actually struggling with this myself. I am the ward mission leader in my ward and I have an Access database that I use to keep track of investigators, lessons taught, etc. One of the tables is the membership table, and I imported that by downloading the CSV file from the ward website on LDS.org. However, I find that I have to do a considerable amount of cleanup of the file in order to import it into my database. I've just taken a look at the Vcard file and was able to succesfully import it into the Palm Desktop software, then re-export it as a txt file. However, there is still some cleanup that has to happen. My goal is to make the database available for free to others who would like it; with that in mind, I want to be able to provide a way to given them a clean file from the church website for importing into the Membership table of the db.

I use the Church website for the data rather than MLS because I don't have access to MLS and it's unlikely most other users would, either. I'm hoping somebody has a solution so that I don't have to re-invent the wheel. My programming skills are limited.

If the CSV file were at least consistently delimited for each record, that would go a long way towards making it a clean file for import.

Thanks,
Greg

There are two iphone applications that allow you to view ward or stake information, including leadership and membership. The stake app is istake($7.99) and the ward app(3.99) is iward. These apps sync with the membership records, therefore you need to have an lds account (confirmation date and membership number) to be able to receive the information and updates.