47 of 97    47 The first column consists of the Parcel ID numbers of all the parcels for which new notices have been sent.  Since a mailing of new notices would normally be done by exporting a list of all the previously flagged parcel ID’s along with the relevant address data, values, etc., you should already have this data stored in a table somewhere.  That being the case, you need only copy the column of ID’s into a new table, and then add a column for the new flag characters, in this case, “SN” for “Sent Notice.” It may sound strange, but you could also import blank spaces, effectively erasing the previous flags and leaving those fields empty.  Just be sure that the cells are designated “Text” format, so that an empty set of quote marks is generated when the delimited file is created. You would then export the table data as a delimited file.  With some applications, this may have to be done by using the “Save As” option, and choosing to save the data table as a delimited text file.  Delimited text files may also sometimes be referred to as “. CSV” files, which stands for “Comma Separated Values.”  As with the Data Export process, you must choose a safe delimiter character, one that is not contained anywhere within the actual data.  (For a discussion of delimited files, see page 28.) A properly prepared delimited file, utilizing the table data shown above, would appear like this when viewed with a text editor such as the Windows Notepad: “100-A-101”,”SN”                           “100-A-101”,” ”   “100-A-102”,”SN”    or, if empty:            “100-A-102”,” ”   “100-A-103”,”SN”                           “100-A-103”,” ”   “100-A-104”,”SN”                            “100-A-104”,” ”   Since the Parcel ID and the Deed Type fields are both Text-type factors, your source database table columns must be formatted as Text type data, so that the resulting delimited file will be generated with quote marks around the data, identifying it as text data.  If the data in your table already contains quote marks, the quote marks must be removed prior to creating the delimited file, or you will wind up with TWO quote marks before and after each piece of data, which is unacceptable.  Always double-check your delimited file by opening it with a text editor and examining the data before you attempt to import it.  A common occurrence is the inclusion of extraneous data from a database table column which may be “hidden” on the screen, but whose data is nevertheless exported along with the desired information.  If your delimited file looks like the example above, you are now ready to import it into Univers, but before we can do that, we must first design an Import Format Table.