Bringing business cards into 2012

July 23, 2012 3:45 PM

Android/cloud-based note app query. I'm looking for recommendations for an Android app that'll accept the large chunk of csv data I have and keep it synced with my PC.

I have a large csv file with containing about 2,700 rows of address data, with each row broken down into several columns - alphabetically sorted name, address, phone number, etc. This was outputted by an ageing card file programme called BusinessCards, last updated a decade ago. The original programme works fine on Windows 7, but I'd like to shift this data into a smartphone app, specifically an Android one. What I'd really, really like is an Android version of the original Windows Cardfile application, that can be searched and scrolled through, with each individual card accepting as much text data as you like. Pictures are not important, clickable links would be nice.

Does anyone have any suggestions for an app that'll take each row from this csv file and render it into 2,700 individual cards or flashcards or entries? I'm less worried about slotting the columns into individual data sets as they're not consistent in any case. Ideally, the app would also sync with a desktop PC.

I've looked into Evernote, which seems to have a csv import option in the premium version, but it's unclear how all that data is rendered when it arrives in the app, and I'm wary of buying it to discover it doesn't work as I hoped.

Many thanks in advance for all your help.

posted by jonathanbell to computers & internet (5 answers total)

Could you set up a gmail account specifically for this list then import it as contacts? Contacts sync right across the android environment pretty seamlessly.
posted by merocet at 4:21 PM on July 23, 2012

I thought of that, but having two gmail accounts is a bit of a bore, plus many of the original cards aren't traditional contacts, but info about accounts, websites, etc.
posted by jonathanbell at 4:52 PM on July 23, 2012

Technically, the Gmail Contacts system could allow for this within a single account: you can create groups for your contacts, and then tell your phone to only display certain groups when you want access to the information. It'd be a bit of a pain, but not really more than finding an app that doesn't really do what you want.

Moreover, the Gmail web contacts app allows you to add notes, additional data fields, and all kinds of other stuff that stays perfectly synced, all within a single account, but put into a group so you can hide them at will.
posted by disillusioned at 4:57 PM on July 23, 2012

Is there a reason you wouldn't treat this as a spreadsheet in Google Docs?
posted by 23 at 6:06 PM on July 23, 2012

Thanks merocet. In the end I bit the bullet and pulled everything into Google. It's a bit of a mess and there's a lot of work ahead to weed out duplicates and unnecessary fields, but it looks like it'll work just fine in the long run. Thanks to everyone for their help.
posted by jonathanbell at 5:40 AM on July 24, 2012