Can you guarantee that you will be able to import my data?

Basically, our ability to get the data into a neutral format depends on our ability to reverse-engineer 3rd party eLog formats. We have already done this for most of our major competitors formats and for a large number of obsolete logbooks too and historically we're happy to report a very high degree of success for the thousands of pilots who have been through this process. This is especially true for once popular systems that in our experience many users are fleeing from, including LogbookPro and LogTenPro where our success rate is basically 100%.

However, strictly speaking we can't 100% guarantee success. Things that might cause problems include encryption or intentional obfuscation by third party providers, your not being able to supply us with the data files that we need, radical changes to data formats by third party providers, problems with consistency or organization of your data, and so forth. For example, an issue that we've seen in the past is that some pilots have given us "messy" logbooks where they've used the "route of flight" fields for everything and anything including personal comments, instrument approaches and other irrelevant things. In such cases, while we can likely get other data out of numerical columns, automatically creating clean "route of flight" entries in Safelog might be impossible and so the pilot might have to do some unavoidable manual cleanup. Such issues affect relatively few people but the possibility is always there.

Because it's in our and your interest to have as many people as possible use Safelog, we will try our best to get your data out, but we can't necessarily guarantee this 100%, nor can we necessarily guarantee that we can get 100% of the data of a given logbook.

If your logbook product is in the list above, chances are that we'll have good success. In practice, we've been able to help nearly 100% of those who have come to us with third-party logbook data get their data into Safelog. The exceptions have been really obscure cases such as people coming to us with 20+ year old encrypted database formats or very poorly organized data.

Why do you provide the data in CSV format back to me to import myself? Why don't you just provide it in Safelog's native format?

The reason we don't "import it ourselves" for you is that there's not necessarily going to be a 1:1 match between the fields in your old eLog and the fields as you'll want them in Safelog going forward. The matching process which you control ensures that your fields will be as and where you like them when you log with Safelog. In the cases where you indeed configure Safelog to be very much like your old eLog, the matching process will be nearly trivial, as the fields will normally automatically line up quite well during the matching process.

What you get back from transition team in most cases will be a a pair CSV files that are basically ready to be imported into Safelog. You then log in to SafelogWeb.com, click on import/export, and then "CSV import" to import them both. There is plenty of online help there to assist you with this process.

Will you be able to make sense of all of my data?

Basically, we will provide a CSV file to help you import most or all of your main flight log. Supplementary material such as for example records of medical certificates will not be imported, but those are few and far between enough that you can enter them manually into Safelog if and as you'd like to. As far as your main log data goes, we can do only as much as we can in a reasonably automated way with the data – often, what we can't do is due to limitations in your old logbook. However, most people in practice find that most or all of their logbook, including normally everything that actually matters, can be moved over without problems.

Will I be able to have my columns set up just like in my old logbook product?

Almost certainly YES, you can. In most cases, this is a simple matter of setting up the columns as you will have had them set up in the old product and then importing your data to match. Safelog is very powerful and flexible in this regard, and also can be made to match many common printed logbook formats completely. That said, in some cases there may be small differences between how your old logbook product did things and how Safelog will do them, but these will tend to be minor and done for good reasons (such as because our way ends up being faster or more efficient).

How many transition jobs are included with my Safelog subscription?

Every new Safelog user is entitled to one and only one transition request of his/her own (not somebody else's) data.

What this means is that you send us the latest version of your logbook data from your old logbook system, we convert it as best we can to importable CSV files, and then we send these files back to you. Because each conversion process involves considerable manual work for our technical and aviation team, we insist that you ensure that you give us your latest and best data files the first time. It is your responsibility to identify, locate, and send us your best and most complete "old" data files. We have had cases before where users have sent us data files, we've spent hours working on them, dutifully return the converted files to the users, only to have the users tell us "oh, sorry, that file I sent you was not my complete logbook. Please work on this other more up to date file, instead." Regrettably, as this is neither fair to us nor to our other users, transition for such additional logbooks will not be free and can be contracted at our going technical shop rate (contact us for details). In the unlikely case where you know in advance that you have data from multiple sources for whatever reason, please contact us before making your transition request and we will make a fair determination of what can be included in your (free) transition request and what may require additional payment. Usually, we are reasonably lenient when people come to us in advance and have a legitimate reason for having data from multiple sources, but we draw a very definite line when people after the fact come to us with additional work, especially if it is caused by their own inattention in giving us their most up to date data the first time.

Please also note that we expect users to send us their old data files for transition requests within two months, maximum, of their initial Safelog subscription signup. Any requests received after this tiem will generally not be included unless we are notified during this two month period of the reason for any further delay. The reason for this is that we have had a few cases of pilots who have been happily using Safelog for many years suddenly find old data files they may have had lying around somewhere from a previous eLogbook try to use this service as we reckon just to see if there was something interesting in the old files. This is not what this transition system is for, and as such, such "late" requests are not included in our free transition offer whose function is primarily to get users up and running into Safelog.

Where should I log my flights while you are working converting my old logbook files?

We suggest that you log your flights on paper while your 3rd party eLog is being converted by the team. Then, when the conversion is done and your flights are in Safelog nicely, go back and enter the transition period flights into Safelog.

This is probably the easiest thing to do as it keeps things separate and simple during the brief 'transition' phase. Or, you can log it in the Safelog logbook software; though as you will go to import the CSV that we will eventually give you, you will have to be careful to ensure that you do not accidentally erase that period's flights.

I am not a Safelog customer, but I want to send you the data files from my old logbook...

Sorry, this service is only available to existing licensed (paid, not demo) Safelog users. There are no exceptions to this. This service involves a substantial amount of personalized and difficult work by our staff in whipping your data into shape. That said, if you are not yet a Safelog customer but are concerned whether we'll be able to process your transition if and when you do sign up because your files are somehow nonstandard or you're not sure about them, please contact us via our helpdesk. We may in such cases ask you to send us your files so that we can give you a preliminary analysis as to the likelihood of success and/or let you know if there will be any additional costs involved if your files are non-standard and thus require considerable bespoke (personalized) work by our technical or aviation analyst teams. If you think that you might want to send us your files for analysis, please first log in to SafelogWeb.com (create a demo account if you haven't already), click "Import/Export" then "Third Party" and then select your 3rd party eLog from the list to get to the screen where it tells you what files we normally expect for a given 3rd party eLog. If you are able to supply the files listed there, there is no need to contact us for a "pre-signup analysis" (as the answer will be 'yes, we can process your file') though if you are particularly concerned in such cases you can and we'll be happy to take a look.

I am interested, but worry that you might not be able to use my data.

Indeed, we might not, but if your old logbook product is in the list above, chances are quite good that we will. Furthermore, if you are really concerned and your logbook is not in the list above, send us a message via our helpdesk. We'll contact you personally and (at our discretion) have a look and give you some idea of what we can do.

What files do you require?

This varies from product to product. Generally, we require the files that contain your logbook data. We do NOT require (nor do we ask) you to send for example the files belonging to the old program itself. Once you start the transition process and select your 3rd party eLog type, you will be presented with detailed descriptions of exactly what we need for your 3rd Party eLog style. For most users, the process of finding and sending us the correct file is straightforward and a non-issue.

How long does it take?

Up to around two weeks (though sometimes it goes much faster, we say around two weeks to be on the safe side). It's a semi-automated process and the non-automated parts that we have to do are quite technically demanding for some logbook formats. Real humans have to look at your old logbook and apply a series of tools that we have written go get your data out. This requires a high degree of technical and aviation expertise. If it so happens that we already have a matching set of tools, the process may be as quick as a few hours. Occasionally, you may have a slightly different version of something or other, so a bit of tweaking is required. Also, please recognize that we are normal humans who don't necessarily work at 3am on Sunday mornings and we are occasionally subject to illness and prior commitments. Please see this page to see if there are any staff holidays or training sessions scheduled currently as these may affect the speed at which transitions are processed. At all times, you will be able to see the status of your requests through our online system and you can of course contact us via our helpdesk if you are concerned.

How easy is the process?

Most of the now thousands of logbook transitions that we have processed do indeed go smoothly. That is, pilots upload their old files to us, we return CSV files, and then the pilots manage to import the returned CSV into Safelog with about an hour or less of work. Sometimes, however, it takes longer and the process is more involved. This may be due to inconsistencies in your data such as because you have a large number of incorrect airport identifiers or other strange values in your old logbook. Other times, difficulties may arise because of unforseen technical issues involved in getting the data you want out of your old logbook.

In the unlikely case that you get a file back from us that doesn't contain the data that you want, please communicate with us via our helpdesk in a spirit of patience and mutual cooperation, and we'll do our best to fix whatever issue you have. In some cases, this may result in a bit of communication with you and some back and forth as we 're process' your logbook a few times. Please remember that these conversions can be very difficult for us (as they would be for anybody) at times - we're dealing with reverse engineering highly technical data from undocumented and often obsolete or internally problematic file formats. We learn and improve with each one as it is in our interest to make the process as smooth as possible for each pilot. The point is that we ask all pilots who use this system to be open to the possibility that it might take a bit longer and might require some tweaking and communication to get it right for you, but we will do our best and keep working at it to the best of our ability if you communicate constructively with us and help us to help you. We cannot guarantee that it will be a smooth process for everybody all the time--this is simply a reflection of how difficult such transitions are. However, we can guarantee that we will do our best if you have the patience to work with us in the unlikely event that you experience difficulties. Because of this possibility, we ask that if you are facing something like an interview for which you'd like a printout of your log data from Safelog that you give extra time.

Will you break encryption?

We're not sure if this is ever an issue, but we consider the possibility that some files that some of you may send us may be encrypted – that is, deliberately made difficult to read. Due to legal, ethical, and security considerations, if your file is indeed encrypted, chances are that we will not be able to create a CSV for you. That said, if you have access to your own logbook data in some program, unless the authors were truly cynical, chances are that you will be able to use some 'export' function in that old software to get your data out in a format that we can indeed process for you. This also said, in extreme cases if your data is encrypted and if you can provide to us reasonable and compelling proof that you are indeed the rightful owner, we may be able to do something with it, though this may entail additional costs.

What if my old logbook software is not in the list?

If your old logbook software is not in the list, try contacting us via our helpdesk first. We may well be able to help you as we are interested in expanding the set of old logbook software that we can indeed import. However, if your logbook software is not on the list and we determine that what you have is so obscure or intractable that we truly can't do anything with it, then you still use Safelog's import features once you have made your own CSV file from your data. Safelog features a powerful CSV import tool that can handle a wide range of custom CSV files.