# Using Windows Task Scheduler

Windows Task Scheduler is a standard tool that is available on Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000 and 2003. It enables you to schedule jobs to be run as and when you require: once only, daily, weekly, every week day,... There are many options.

Using Task Scheduler to run Inaport imports is easy, and provides considerable flexibility in updating your target data. For example, you can schedule an update from your accounting system into GoldMine to occur every week night at 2:00am.

### Important Note

When you use the Task Scheduler to run an import, Inaport will NOT display anything on the screen. This is by design - it allows you to run the import completely unattended, and ensures that the process does not hang at any point, waiting for somebody to press ENTER. If you want to have information about the import, make sure that you specify a log file when you design the import. You can specify that an import create a new log file each time it is run, or append the information to the end of an existing log file.

You can then check the contents of the log file at any time, using Notepad or any other text editor. For each run, you can record:

- start and stop time of the runs
- how many records were read, filtered, and written
- optionally, details of each record filtered

### Adding a task to the Task Scheduler

To add an import to the Task Scheduler:

1. Start the Scheduler by clicking the Windows Start button, then navigating to:
   Start - Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Scheduled Tasks
2. In the Task Scheduler window, click "Add Scheduled Task". This will start a wizard that guides you through the process. Click Next.
3. The first step of the Wizard asks you to select the program to run. Do NOT select Inaport. Instead, click the Browse button, and browse to the .ipi file that has the import setup you want to run. Select it.
4. Go through the rest of the Wizard to set when and how often you want the import to run.
5. Click Finish after you are satisfied. the task will now be scheduled, and Windows will run it automatically with no further intervention from you. Again, remember that Inaport will NOT display a user interface when the task is run - the only way of seeing the effects is to examine the log file, or to look at the new/modified data in GoldMine.