Convert Excel to Serif Webplus SDB format

Just sharing something that might be of interest to anyone with a similar problem.

A non-technically minded friend is attempting to use Serif WebPlus to create an E-Commerce site with Paypal integration. The problem is that all his stock is in Excel format which, although Serif claims they can handle, throws an error dialog with the helpful information that the worksheet or database does not have the required fields. There is no indication as to what these fields should be, merely that they are required and not present!

Anyway, I figured I'd have more success with an export to CSV. Nope, exactly the same problem.

Finally, after actually opening an actual "SDB" file in notepad I noticed that the Serif Database file IS a CSV file. The only difference? It comes with quotation marks around each field. Hello, there -> "Hello", "there". Great.

Convert Excel to Serif Webplus SDB format was originally published by Martin Paul Eve at eve.gd: Martin Paul Eve on October 03, 2008.