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You have a couple of options for using your data in an Excel spreadsheet. You can either do a query and export the result, or you can link directly to the database.
Query Export
You can do a query from within Pract-Eze Dental
and export the resulting table. It will normally
be saved as a text file in your FreeDentalExports folder
on your local C:\ drive. The first row of the text file will contain the names
of the columns, and the fields are separated by tabs. This makes it very easy
to open in Excel. In Excel, select Data | Import External Data | Import Data
to bring up the Select Data Source dialog:
Find your FreeDentalExports folder in the file list, and click on the name of the text file that you exported from Pract-Eze Dental. The Text Import Wizard has three windows that come up. In window 1, select Delimited. In window 2, select Tab. In window 3, select General. Then click Finish, and select where to place the data. You will now have the entire table loaded into your worksheet for whatever manipulation you wish.
Direct Link
Another way to use the data is to directly link to the database. You would not
normally need to do this since the text export is simpler, but here are instructions
in case you need to. First, set up the ODBC data source
on the computer where you want to access the data. Then, open Excel and open
the Select Data Source dialog as shown above. Select New Source at the bottom.
Select Other/Advanced, and click Next.
Select FreeDental from the data source list and enter the username and password. You can click Test Connection to verify that you have a good connection. Select the table you want from the list and then select the new data source you have created. Your table will now be loaded into the spreadsheet for further manipulation.