Importing and Exporting Data in Tables

This help file applies to an out-of-date version of MainBoss.
The most recent version of MainBoss is MainBoss 4.2.4.
For the latest version of this help file can be found here.

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New users of MainBoss may wish to import data from other software. Users may also have an ongoing need to export data from MainBoss for use with other software (e.g. an accounting package used by your organization).

MainBoss makes this possible. However, you must pay close attention to potential discrepancies between the way MainBoss records data and the way other software may do so. As a simple example, MainBoss always records inventory values using the per-unit price and the number of units, with the per-unit price given to four decimal places. Other software may expect you to specify the total price, or may expect a different number of decimal places. In this situation, it's relatively easy to convert from one expected format to another, but in other cases, it may be more difficult. In fact, there may be no obvious way to convert MainBoss data for use with other software or vice versa.

MBUtility: You can import/export data inside MainBoss itself. You can also do it outside MainBoss, using a command named mbutility; this is usually executed in a command prompt window. The MainBoss Installation and Administration Guide explains how to use mbutility; see that guide for more information.

If you import/export data inside MainBoss, what actually happens is that MainBoss calls mbutility to do the work. Therefore, the two approaches have exactly the same effects.