| MeSA Records can be exported to new databases either with the name and identifying information attached or completely de-identified. | |
 | From the Home Menu, select Database Management. |
 | Check the Current Database box at the top of the Database Management screen to be sure that the database from which you would like to export records is the one currently loaded. If not, click the Load Database button, find and highlight the database into which you wish to merge records, and click the Open button. The name of the database you have selected should now appear in the Current Database field. |
 | Click "Export Records." |
 | In the left-hand Select box you will see all the available records for export. In the middle of the screen there will be four buttons. The top button is a single arrow pointing to the right and will move only the selected record in the left-hand Select box to the right-hand Export box. The second button from the top is a double arrow pointing to the right and will move all records in the left-hand Select box to the right-hand Export box. The third button is a single arrow pointing to the left and will move only the selected record in the right-hand Export box to the left-hand Select box. The bottom button is a double arrow pointing to the left and will move all records in the right-hand Export Box to left-hand Select box. |
 | Click Export (Note: Exporting will not change your current database records). |
 | Select the location to which you would like to save your exported records, and type in what you would like to name the export file in the File name field. Click Save. |
 | A dialogue box will ask if you wish to de-identify records. If you click No, the database will be exported as is. By clicking Yes, all names will be replaced by the unique alphanumeric User Codes assigned to each test taker, and the date of birth for individuals will be truncated to the year only. If the test taker was 90 or older at the time of testing, his age will be set to 99 to comply with the HIPAA Safe Harbor method of de-identification. |
 | A dialogue will ask if you wish to completely randomize the name codes. If you choose Yes, then the already de-identified IDs will be further randomized to obfuscate the data further. |
 | A box will appear confirming that your records have been successfully exported. Click OK. |