SSIS Import/Export Wizard

Question

Is there a difference between "Import Data" and "Export Data" in SSMS Object Explorer?  Thanks.

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Kalman Toth SQL SERVER 2012 & BI TRAINING
New Book: Beginner Database Design & SQL Programming Using Microsoft SQL Server 2012

Answer 1

IMHO,

Terminology can get confusing if both your source and target (destination) is SQL Server in that can both "Import" and "Export" can be used interchangeably to load in your appropriate source or destination.

Howerver, if you want to load data from a flat file into a target SQL Server database you would use "Import" data and if you want to extract data into a flat file from your SQL database table you choose "Export" data.

Answer 2

It's the same. If you start "Import" then the target is predefined, with "Export" the source. Otherwise there are no differences.

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Olaf Helper

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