What is Palm2CSV? If you're looking to export your Palm Desktop Calendar/Datebook or To Do (Tasks) to CSV (comma separated value) format, you can do it automatically yourself, right here on this website. There's no software to download or purchase, no plug-ins to install, and best of all it's completely free!
How Does It Work? Just follow these simple steps to export your Datebook to DBA (Date Book Archive) format or To Do to TDA (To Do Archive) format and use the form below to submit the DBA or TDA file. You'll immediately get back a CSV-encoded file suitable for importing into a variety of apps and platforms, including Google Calendar, Yahoo! Calendar, iCalendar, Outlook, Excel, and anything else that can read CSV files. (Note: instructions on importing CSV files into those applications are beyond the scope of Palm2CSV, which simply allows you to convert your Palm Calendar into CSV format.)
NOTE: Palm2CSV only works on DBA and TDA files exported with version 4.1.4 of the Palm Desktop for Windows. Files exported from version 6.2.2 (Palm Desktop by ACCESS) will NOT work!
Sample Files: Here is a sample Datebook Archive file which you can import into your Palm Desktop to see the sample events (which all start on Friday, May 7th, 2010), and the resulting CSV output file produced by Palm2CSV. (Note that some entries are in the Business category, some are in the Personal category, and some are unfiled; if you are viewing them in Palm Desktop you may have to configure your Palm Desktop to display entries in ALL categories, otherwise you might not see them all.) Here is the resulting calendar which has been converted to CSV and imported into Google Calendar.
NEW as of 4/28/2010: You can now adjust all dates forward or backward by 1-23 hours to account for different timezones.
NEW as of 5/5/2010: Full support for repeating events! See the FAQ below for more info.
NEW as of 6/14/2010: Now displaying Category column when dumping Datebook entries.
NEW as of 6/15/2010: Now exporting times in 24-hour format, without trailing AM/PM. This allows Google to recognize them when importing into Google Calendar.
NEW as of 6/22/2010: Added option to suppress display of End Date, to allow for easier (and correct) importing of repeating events into Google Calendar.
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Step 1 From the Palm Desktop, select either Calendar or Tasks: |
Step 2 From the File menu, select Export... |
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Step 3: Export Your File From the Export As... dialog box, enter a filename. For the Calendar: From the Export type drop-down, select the Date Book Archive (*.dba) option (do NOT select Calendar Archive!): 
For the Tasks: From the Export type drop-down, select the To Do Archive (*.tda) option (do NOT select Tasks Archive!): 
To export ALL records, ensure the Range radio button option All is selected. Whether you are exporting a Calendar or Tasks, when you are finished specifying your output filename, click the Export button to save your file, then continue to Step 4 (to the right). |
Step 4: Upload Your File |
Frequently Asked Questions
It said something about not liking my file in Calendar Archive format and that I should use Datebook Archive format but I swear I exported my Palm data in Datebook Archive format. What's up with that?
Are you SURE you specified Datebook Archive format? Both Calendar Archive and Datebook Archive format use the same .dba extension, so you can't go by the extension alone. Also, this is only guaranteed to work on Datebook Archive files created by Palm Desktop 4.1.4 for Windows; if you use another version of Palm Desktop to export your data, Palm2CSV may not work. You can download Palm Desktop here.
It seems to have converted my Palm Calendar properly but it also included a bunch of strange events from 1969, 1970 or 1971. Their descriptions are only one letter long. What's up with that?
There seems to be a bug with either the Palm Desktop or handheld which causes these events to appear in your calendar. In any case they are not caused by Palm2CSV. If you hunt around for that date in your Palm Desktop you should be able to find those rogue events.
This is great but how can I convert my other Palm databases (Contacts, Memos, etc.) to CSV format?
Palm Desktop 4.1.4 for Windows (and probably others) includes the ability to export Contacts and Memos in both CSV and TSV format. If you want to export those files and you don't already have a version of Palm Desktop that support exporting, you can download Palm Desktop.
I have successfully converted my Palm Calendar but I'm having trouble importing it into Google Calendar.
Google Calendar has several restrictions and requirements. See this page for details and troubleshooting.
If Google gives you an error message that says "Failed to import events: Unable to process your iCal/CSV file", it's probably because the CSV file is too big. Try splitting it into several smaller files and import each of them separately. I've found that Google Calendar works best if you limit each file to 1 MB or smaller. Remember to include the header row at the top of each file!
If you've imported your CSV file into Google Calendar and you're seeing repeating events showing up too frequently (i.e. somebody's birthday showing up every day), this is because Google Calendar assumes every incoming event should repeat daily from the Start Date to the End Date. It doesn't realize that Palm2CSV has already done the equivalent by listing a new row for each repetition. If you click the "Suppress End Date" checkbox before converting from DBA to CSV, you will end up with a CSV file that does not list an End Date. When you import the resulting CSV file into Google Calendar, the blank End Date field will prevent Google Calendar from trying to repeat the event daily.
If you've imported your CSV file into Google Calendar and you're not seeing the Comments column that Palm2CSV created, that's by design. To get the comments into Google Calendar, you'll have to copy and paste the contents of that column (NOT the header!) into the Notes column.
It keeps telling me, "It seems your file (filename) is in Microsoft Access format, but it should be in Palm Datebook Archive format". What's up with that and how do I fix it?
I've noticed that for some reason many people are attempting to convert Microsoft Access database files with Palm2CSV. This simply won't work at all, since Palm2CSV is not designed to read Microsoft Access files. Try Googling for more information on converting Microsoft Access databases to CSV.
I have successfully converted my Palm Calendar to CSV but I'm having trouble importing it into Outlook.
Outlook has a specific set of requirements, but I don't know what they are. If you can provide me with more details of exactly what Outlook wants in the CSV file I may be able to help you.
My Palm Datebook contains foreign and/or accented characters, and when I view the converted CSV in Excel they show up fine but when I save the CSV file from Excel the accented characters disappear when I import the CSV file into Google Calendar or Outlook.
Excel saves CSV files with ANSI encoding. For your accented characters to show properly when importing into Google Calendar or Outook, you must save the CSV file with UTF-8 encoding. After you have made all your edits to the CSV file in Excel and have saved the CSV file, close Excel and open the CSV file in Notepad (notepad.exe). From Notepad, select File -> Save As and select "UTF-8" from the Encoding drop-down.
It seems to have converted my Datebook to CSV but the Location column is blank! Where did all my event locations go?
Unfortunately, when you export your Palm Calendar to Datebook Archive format, the Location field is not exported; the end result is that there simply aren't any locations listed in the Datebook Archive file for Palm2CSV to read. This is a limitation of the Palm Desktop's export feature, not a bug in Palm2CSV.
How do I use the options for repeating events?
By default, your repeating events will be repeated according to how you set them up in your Palm Calendar. For example, if you have an event that starts on Wednesday, May 5th, 2010, repeats every 2 weeks on Monday and Wednesday, and ends on Tuesday, June 1st, the output CSV will contain the following:
Wednesday, May 5th (the original event)
Monday, May 17th (1st repeat)
Wednesday, May 19th (2nd repeat)
Monday, May 31st (3rd repeat)
If you only want to see the first instance of each repeated event (i.e. the original event itself, with none of its repeats), change the Repeat Maximum to 1. To see a maximum of, say, 5 repetitions for each repeating event, change Repeat Maximum to 5.
If you want to limit repeating events so they don't repeat past a certain date, set the Repeat End Date to the last date that you want repeating events to show. (Leave it blank for no restriction.) This is useful to limit, say, repeating events that have no set end date and which will otherwise repeat forever (although due to technical and practical restrictions, Palm2CSV will stop when they reach the year 2032).
Note that due to technical restrictions, events can't repeat past the year 2032.
Note that events are output in the same order they are encountered in your DBA file, which happens to be chronological order. However, because every event and its "repeats" will be grouped together, that means the next distinct event will very likely be out of order from the previous event's repeats. If you want your entire file to be in chronological order you'll have to sort the CSV file yourself. This is pretty easy if you're using something like Excel.
Is my data safe? How do I know it won't be misused?
Files uploaded to Palm2CSV are deleted on a regular basis and the data they contain are not used for any purpose except for converting your file to CSV format. (Trust me, I have no interest in the contents of random strangers' calendars and to-do lists.)
Please note that while I make every effort to keep your data secure during the limited time it is on my server, I cannot make any absolute guarantee regarding its safety or security. Also, since you are transmitting it without the benefit of SSL encryption, there is always the (small) chance that a third party could intercept and read your network traffic while it is being transmitted, either to or from Palm2CSV.
If you have particularly sensitive data in Palm format that you wish to convert to CSV, please email me and we can work out a way for you to send me the data and for me to send you back the converted CSV file via a more secure channel.
Are there any limitations?
Current known limitations:
- Only seems to work with Datebook Archives and To Do Archives created with Palm Desktop 4.1.4. Datebook Archives and To Do Archives created with newer versions of the Palm Desktop (e.g. 6.2.2) probably won't work.
- DBA files must be less than 6,000,000 bytes. (This is an arbitrary restriction I imposed to keep my server from getting overloaded; it can be lifted at any time, so contact me if that's the error message you're getting.)
Help! I still can't get it to work!
Contact me; I may be able to convert your file for you.
How did you do this?
I researched the Palm file format online and wrote a PHP program to parse Palm datebook files.
I found this so useful that I'd like to pay you something for your efforts.
Thanks! I have spent quite a bit of time making Palm2CSV helpful and easy to use, and donations of any amount are welcome. You can donate via Paypal by clicking on the "Donate" button below: