Directory export as vcard in new.lds.org

The vcard export of the ward directory in classic lds.org is perfect for Gmail import. The other options result in a very poor (almost useless) import.

Can you please make sure to recreate this export capability on the new directory web site before deleting the old one?

I just wrote a Perl script that can take the new CSV export format from the new Directory tool and converts it to vCard format.

This works much better when importing into Google Contacts for example.

You can find it at http://www.rodneybeede.com/downloads/LD ... 20vCard.7z licensed under the GNU GPL.

Thanks for sharing.

It worked great with Cygwin after doing the following:

1. Installing File::Slurp using CPAN .
2. Commenting out the perl version requirement line (#require 5.012_003;)
The version provided by my Cygwin is only 5.10.1, but it worked fine.

Thanks for sharing.

After much trial and error, I finally figured out which columns must be included to import the unit directory from the new LDS website into Google contacts. This seems to work for Gmail and Google apps contacts. Just use the following column headers, instead of the default column headers you receive when using "Export Households" feature. Replace the first row of the .CSV file with the following:
--
Family Name,Name,Phone 1 - Value,E-mail 1 - Value,Address 1 - Formatted,HeadofHouseName,HeadofHousePhone,HeadofHouseEmail,SpouseName,SpousePhone,SpouseEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,Given Name,Additional Name,E-mail 1 - Type,Address 1 - Type,Phone 1 - Type
--

If in doubt, copy/paste the above list into Notepad, or other text editor, and save as CSV. Then open this new file and your ward list in Excel and copy/paste the new headers over the first row of your ward directory CSV. Save and import to Google. You may want to delete a lot of the ChildName, ChildPhone, ChildEmail columns to cut down on extra detail showing up in the contact details. Most of the other columns, however, even if blank, are required and shouldn't be deleted.

IIRC, the number of columns depends on the maximum number of children in a family group in your unit. (Wow, 16?)

wow, I have no idea what you all just said. I have no idea what to do with a "script" that someone in this forum supposedly made, and I have still no clue how to correctly import all of the lds.org imports into my google account. Any help please? For a layman?

volzmike wrote:I have still no clue how to correctly import all of the lds.org imports into my google account. Any help please? For a layman?

Here are the steps:

1. Go to http://lds.org
2. Click on Sign In/Tools at the top of the page, near the upper right corner
3. Click on Directory in the menu that appears
4. Sign in using your LDS Account; you should see the Directory application
5. Click on Export Households on the left-hand side
6. In the popup that appears, click the Download button.
7. The next steps vary quite a bit depending on your browser. But basically you need to find the file that was just downloaded and open it into a text editor such as Notepad. If you have trouble with this step, reply to this post and let us know just what browser you are using (including version if it is Internet Explorer), and which text editor.
8. The first row will look something like

   Code:

   "Family Name","Couple Name","Family Phone","Family Email","Family Address","Head Of House Name","Head Of House Phone","Head Of House Email","Spouse Name","Spouse Phone","Spouse Email","Child Name","Child Phone","Child Email","Child Name","Child Phone","Child Email","Child Name","Child Phone","Child Email","Child Name","Child Phone","Child Email","Child Name","Child Phone","Child Email","Child Name","Child Phone","Child Email","Child Name","Child Phone","Child Email","Child Name","Child Phone","Child Email","Child Name","Child Phone","Child Email","Child Name","Child Phone","Child Email","Child Name","Child Phone","Child Email","Child Name","Child Phone","Child Email","Child Name","Child Phone","Child Email","Child Name","Child Phone","Child Email","Child Name","Child Phone","Child Email","Child Name","Child Phone","Child Email"
   

9. Replace that first row with this:

   Code:

   Family Name,Name,Phone 1 - Value,E-mail 1 - Value,Address 1 - Formatted,HeadofHouseName,HeadofHousePhone,HeadofHouseEmail,SpouseName,SpousePhone,SpouseEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail

10. Save your file (it's best to use Save As to save it to a new name just in case something goes wrong -- you'll still have the original file so you can start over)
11. In GMail, go to your Contacts
12. Under the More menu item, choose Import
13. Click the Browse button and find the file you saved above
14. Click the Import button
15. The imported contacts will all be in a group called "Imported 12-17-2012" (if you do the import today)

I did what you said exactly, and all the names and emails look good, but none of the phone numbers got transferred over to google. Any idea why? Thanks very much for your help.

so i opened one of the contacts and it turns out that the emails were the only thing that transferred successfully, and everything else was in the notes section of the contact, with all the text editing jargon as well. Any thoughts?

I should say, that the names were transferred correctly as well.

ok, so I figured out that it was just difference between copying and pasting the first line from your previous post (the post which you had originally explained your trick), rather than copying and pasting the line from your step by step approach for a layman. So I got all the emails, phone numbers, and addresses. However, the first names are missing from the front page. When I click on the actual contact, the first name is safe and sound where it should be, but it is not displayed when I take a look at the entire group. Any reason how I can fix that?

These headers work. Select them all at once, copy, paste over the headers when opening the file with notepad.

Family Name,Name,Phone 1 - Value,E-mail 1 - Value,Address 1 - Formatted,HeadofHouseName,HeadofHousePhone,HeadofHouseEmail,SpouseName,SpousePhone,SpouseEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,ChildName,ChildPhone,ChildEmail,Given Name,Additional Name,E-mail 1 - Type,Address 1 - Type,Phone 1 - Type