The best way to work with lists on your desktop is to use Ilium Software's desktop companion version of ListPro. You can also use the Import from File and the Export to File picks on the File menu to transfer your lists to and from text files.
Lists are imported and exported in tab-delimited form. Each field you want to import or export must be separated from the previous field by one tab character.
You can choose either to have only the data currently selected for display to be imported or exported, or all of the data (fields and items) in a list.
If you choose to Import All Fields, or Export Entire List, ListPro will import or export the following fields, in the order shown:
Item order will be set by the order of the items in the list. All items in the list will be exported.
You can control which fields are imported or exported, and which items are exported by choosing to import only Displayed Fields or export only Data Showing. In this case, select the fields for display with the List Properties window. This feature allows you to control which fields you need to provide information for on a list import, and which fields you send on an export. The order of the fields selected will be the same as on the above list. In addition, if you are exporting to a file and all of the items are not currently displayed (that is, you are showing only flagged items, or not showing checked items), only the items displayed will be exported.
If you need assistance on setting up a list for import, first create a very small (two- or three-item) version of the list you want, and export it to a file. Then edit the file on your desktop using a text processing or spreadsheet application, and import it back into ListPro. This will help create the tab-delimited format correctly.