Seperating data out of a single text field

[dondawg]

Help! I am looking for a way to either export multiple associate text strings from a single text field that are associated with a unique contact Id number. I the past I have used a single field to first put in a date of communication with a person then the call notes associated with that date. Over time of course this single text field has become rather bulky, plus I can not do simple searches in the field for specific dates or ranges of dates. What I am thinking now is that I should have a relational database called Call Logg which has a relation to the unique contact id number and fields such as date of the call, time, call notes, and other important information. I would then use a portal in the contacts database to view the list of calls made over time. Does anyone know if you can break apart a single text field this way by using a script to insert some sort of character or line break before each occurance of a date so I can use excel or something to clean up the record and then reimport the data into multiple records for each contact?

Thanks, Don

[danjacoby]

You could use the "Position" command to find the various entries. For example, I use a double-return to separate notes in my general notes field. By creating a calc field to find these double-returns (those delightful paragraph marks will do the trick), you should be able to parse out the field.