Converting from Shipping Solutions Version 6 or 7 (Video)

If you are still using Shipping Solutions export software version 6 or 7, your software is getting precariously out of date. Shipping Solutions versions 8 and 9 were released in September 2012, and we've had eight updates since then!

Just to clarify, Classic 6 became Classic 8, and Professional 7 became Professional 9.  You will find your version number on the main screen under the Shipping Solutions logo.

There are lots of reasons to upgrade to the latest version. For example, if you are using version 6 or 7, you no longer have the latest version of the documents, such as the USMCA Certification of Origin. You cannot file through AESDirect because the U.S. Census Bureau has added required fields and changed the website address. If you get a new computer, it is unlikely that your old version of Shipping Solutions is compatible with Windows 7 or 8. You are still using a Microsoft Access database, which is not nearly as robust as our new Microsoft SQL Server database. And on top of all that, you aren't able to take advantage of all the new features we've added in the last eight releases of Shipping Solutions!

One thing that might stop you from upgrading is the fear that you will lose your existing data. Version 8 and 9, however, include a utility that will pull your data from the version 6 and 7 Access database and deposit it in the new SQL Server database. The video below explains the procedure.

If you have any other concerns about upgrading to our latest version of Shipping Solutions, please give us a call at 651-905-1727 or send an email to help@shipsolutions.com. We'd be happy to let you know more about the latest versions and give you a quote on upgrade pricing.

Once you are up and running with the latest version of Shipping Solutions you'll wonder why you waited so long!

Transcript of Video:

This video shows you how to convert your data from Shipping Solutions Version 6 or 7 to the latest version of Shipping Solutions.

The latest version of Shipping Solutions uses a Microsoft SQL Server database rather than a Microsoft Access database, which was used in earlier versions of Shipping Solutions. So, before converting your data, you will need to make sure your new Shipping Solutions SQL Server database is up and running. Install Shipping Solutions as described in the User Guide. Then, open the software and make sure that you can add a new shipment by going to the EZ Start tab and clicking New. This will confirm that the user has access to the SQL database.

Then, check the version number of your current software by opening Shipping Solutions and looking under the logo. If it shows a version number of 6 dot anything or 7 dot anything, you will be able to convert your database. Then click on Tools and write down the path to your database.

You may also want to consider cleaning up your database before converting it to version 8 or 9. If you have been using Shipping Solutions for many years, you may have hundreds or even thousands of old shipment records. Now may be a good time to delete old shipment records that you no longer need. You can do this from the Tools menu by clicking on Delete Shipments and then putting in a date range corresponding to the Commercial Invoice date. Be sure to back-up your database prior to deleting records. To back it up, simply navigate to this path and copy and paste this file to a safe location.

Once your old database is ready, you can run the conversion on any computer that has Shipping Solutions version 8 or 9 installed. To run the conversion, click the Start button in the lower left corner of your computer. Choose All Programs then Shipping Solutions Professional 9 or, if you have purchased the Classic version, Shipping Solutions Classic 8.

Choose Convert Previous Version Data. Click the option on the left. Click Locate Old Database and navigate to your existing Shipping Solutions database. Select the conversion option you want.

Choosing the first option will replace everything you have in the new database with the shipments, contacts and products in the old database. This is the most likely choice if the Version 8 or 9 database is empty, and you want to bring over everything from your version 6 or 7 database.

Choosing the second option will replace only the shipment records in the new database with the shipment records of the old database. You might want to use this option if you already have the contact and product databases populated, but you want to bring over your shipment records from the older database.

Choosing the third option will bring over only your products and contacts from the older database, leaving the shipment records behind. If you have many shipment records in your old database, you may not want to clutter your new database with them.

Click Run Conversion. The conversion process could take several hours depending on how much data you have in your existing database. A dialogue box will tell you when the conversion process is complete.

This concludes the Converting Previous Data video. Thank you for watching!