Read data from spreadsheet or text files

The Data Import allows you to load and preview data from spreadsheet files (.xslx), delimited text files (.csv, .txt), and fixed-width text files (.data, .txt).

On the File tab, in the File section, click the Open button to open the file browser and select the file containing the data to be loaded.

Figure 7: Open button in File tab

By default, only files with a recognized and supported extension are displayed. You can select the All files (*) filter if you want to use files that contain plain text content and whose extensions are not recognized.

Figure 8: File explorer and file extensions filter

• Spreadsheet files

Spreadsheet files refer primarily to files created with Microsoft Excel®. Spreadsheet files that contain multiple sheets are supported. The sheets are loaded in separate tabs in the Data Import. The content of a cell is loaded into the same cell reference (column, row) of the Data Import as the spreadsheet, so there is no need to define a column delimiter. Once the data is loaded, you can use some table operations to arrange the data in the expected format for the selection. Please refer to Arrange loaded data section for more information.

• Text files

Text files are files that contain plain text. This means the content that is loaded in the Data Import is human-readable. In a text file, the data is structured as a sequence of lines that contain the data values. Each line refers to a row in the Data Import and a data value to a column. To identify a data value, you can define the delimiter that is used in the file specification. Please refer to the Split data of a text file into columns section for more information. Once the data are loaded, you can use some table operations to arrange the data in the expected format for the selection. Please refer to the Arrange loaded data section for more information.

Note

All rules apply to the loaded data only and do not change the data in the file. At any time, the opened file can be reloaded by pressing the Reload button. This action resets all the rules that you have made.