The Comma Delimited file is a universal format for exchanging database information between programs.  Many software programs (including business, database and spreadsheet programs) can create and use delimited files. You can create a Comma Delimited file containing the information from one or more invoices by selecting FILE and EXPORT INVOICE RECORDS from the Menu Bar on the Main Invoice Screen.  Or you can create a Comma Delimited File containing the information from a Sales Report, by select FILE and EXPORT from menu.) Comma Delimited files commonly use .csv or .txt as an extension, i.e. Invoce.csv or Invoice.txt.

More information on how the file is created is included below, but, with most software products, you don't have to know exactly how the file is created.  You just need to know the number and order of fields making up the delimited file.  For a list of the fields and their order, see Export File Field List.  A list of fields is also included in the file "Header.txt" which is created and  placed in the directory that you designate in the Export dialog box.

Information on How Comma Delimited Files are Created

A Comma Delimited (or Comma Separated) file consists of the fields (as listed in the Export File Field List), each of which is surrounded by quotation marks and separated by a comma.  Each different record (invoice) is separated by a carriage return (the same as pressing Enter on your keyboard). This is a look at what three records would look in a Comma Delimited file for a credit card export:

"9987888875666","07/02",29.95,"201 East Main ","99501","",442621

"7456885666761","10/03",19.90,"566 5th Ave","78444","",442622

"2354562336211","12/01",33.00,"121 10th St.","34561","",442623

From the Export File Field List, you know that the first number in quotes is the credit card number. That's followed by the expiration date, amount, customer address, zip code, zip code extension and finally the invoice number.

Note that with the newest AnyOrder file structure zip extensions are now include in the Zip Code Field.  Even though the Zip Extension field is no longer used, AnyOrder continues to export it (albeit, as an empty field) so that export file continues to have 7 fields and avoiding any compatibility problems for those who depend upon the export file for card processing.

When AnyOrder creates an export file in Comma Delimited format, it leaves off the quotes for any numeric field.  That is a signal to your program to format it accordingly.  It also leaves off the quotes for True or False fields, and for date fields.  Date fields are formatted with the year first, followed by the month and day. For example: 20021018 means 10/18/2002 (October 18, 2002).

Note:  Whenever using delimited files, try to avoid the use of double quotes (") in the fields.  Use single quotes (') instead.  Since double quotes are used as "delimiters," extra double quotes in the file makes it difficult for your host software to decide where it should divide fields, resulting in some fields being divided twice instead of once.

For more information on other file types that AnyOrder! can export, see:

dBase Files

System Data Format Files