presently i have a table in which there are records and the fields are slno (this is a primary key auto increment), firstname, lastname, email, date(which inserts as a date format) these records are presenty being inserting from a html form. this works fine. i have additional data that is on paper and this paper data needs to be added to this table and the are numerous records that have to be inserted so executing an sql query from myphpadmin is not a good option. due to this i would lke to add the paper data first into a text file or csv file and then use the Import feature in phpyadmin so that this new data is added to the existing table along with the data that is already inserted through the form. please advice 1. if a text file or csv file is preferrable. 2. in what format should the data be entered in the case of a) text file & ) csv file should i mention slno, firstname, lastname, email, date on top of the file and add data accordingly. also as slno is auto increment do i need to specify the numeric number or is it optional and in case of date do i need to follow the same format as it is for previous records while entering the data manually into the text or csv file. thanks.