Repopulating a database with document content

1. A method for repopulating a database with content from a document, comprising:

accessing a document that includes content retrieved from a database; wherein the document is generated using the content retrieved from the database and wherein a layout and formatting for the content within the document is defined externally from the database content;

locating the content within the document that was retrieved from the database; wherein the content within the document is associated with a location in the database; and

repopulating the database with the content from the document.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining when a change to the content retrieved from the database has been made within the document.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising determining when a change to the content retrieved from the database is considered a change to ignore.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein repopulating the database with the content from the document, comprises excluding the content that has not changed and the changed content that consists of changes to be ignored.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein locating the content within the document that was retrieved from the database comprises locating content placeholders within the document that identify the content retrieved from the database.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the content placeholders provide a link to a location within the database from which the content was retrieved.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the content placeholders include a unique identifier that identify a row within the database.

8. The method of claim 2 , further comprising verifying the integrity of the content before repopulating the database with the content from the document.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising utilizing a user interface to show changes to the content within the document and receiving a determination through the user interface whether the changes to the content should be used in repopulating the database.

10. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions for repopulating a database with content from a document, the instructions comprising:

accessing a document that includes pieces of content retrieved from a database; wherein the document is generated using the pieces of content retrieved from the database and wherein a layout and formatting for content within the document is defined externally from the database content;

locating the pieces of content within the document that were retrieved from the database;

identifying a location within the database for each of the pieces of content that was retrieved from the database; and

repopulating the database at the identified locations with the pieces of content from the document.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , further comprising maintaining a changes list that identifies the pieces of content that has changed within the document since being retrieved from the database.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein maintaining the changes list, comprises excluding the pieces of content that are considered a change to be ignored.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein locating the pieces of content within the document that were retrieved from the database and identifying the locations within the database for each of the pieces of content that was retrieved from the database comprises locating content placeholders within the document that identify the content retrieved from a specific location within the database.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the content placeholders include a unique identifier that identify a row within the database.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , further comprising showing the pieces of content included within the changes list and determining for each of the shown pieces of content whether the piece of content should be used in repopulating the database.

16. A system for repopulating a database with content from a document, comprising:

a processor and a computer-readable storage medium;

an operating environment stored on the computer-readable storage medium and executing on the processor;

a user interface that is configured to display the content from the document;

a database having rows and columns; wherein the database includes pieces of content that is included within the document; wherein the pieces of content within the database include rich content but does not include all of the metadata used in generating the document;

a document including a piece of content from the database; wherein the document is generated using the pieces of content retrieved from the database and wherein a layout and formatting for the content within the document is defined externally from the database content; and

a database repopulation manager that is configured to:

access the document;

locate the piece of content within the document that was retrieved from the database;

identify a location within the database from where the piece of content was retrieved; and

repopulate the database at the identified location with the piece of content.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the database repopulation manager is further configured to determine when a change has been made to the piece of content since being retrieved from the database.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the database repopulation manager is further configured to ignore the piece of content when repopulating the database when the change to the piece of content is considered a change to be ignored.

19. The system of claim 16 , wherein the database repopulation manager is configured to locate a content placeholder within the document that identifies the piece of content retrieved from a specific location within the database.

20. The system of claim 16 , wherein the user interface is further configured to receive a selection indicating whether to repopulate the database with the piece of content.