How do I import data from Excel?

Requirements for the Excel file:

Please note the following before importing an Excel file:

  • Only the first sheet of the file will be imported.
  • The first line of the file should either contain a label for the column, or a text describing the data in the column. Use only the characters a-z,A-Z,0-9 or underscore (_) in one word only
  • Depending on the data in the column, the Import Wizard will detect the appropriate type, but you may also override this in the first step.
  • Categorical data can be represented either by text, or by a number. The categories are created in the order that they appear in a column.
  • If you want categorical data to appear in a specific order, you may use the rows from row 2 onwards to specify the order and also cater for possibly missing categories in some columns. 
    • E.g. if you have several categories that represents a scale, “Very likely”, “Likely”, “Not likely”, you might want them to appear in this order (regardless of how they appear in the real data), and if you have several of these columns, the Import Wizard will automatically recognize these and create a grid out of them, but this relies on the same number and order of categories in each column.
  • If you have such rows describing the order, please give the number of such rows on the dialog where you select the Excel file.

Start the Import Wizard either from the Project Screen or by clicking on the icon on the tool bar on the left.

Once the Wizard has opened select Excel as the file type by clicking on the tab menu in the top left corner.

Click on the Browse for Excel file button and select the file you wish to import and then click on the next button.
A new screen will appear titled ‘MS Excel import intermediate step’ on this screen you select the columns you would like to import and also change the data type of the columns.  The Import Wizard automatically assigns a data type based on the contents of the column and selects all active columns for import.

To change the data type assigned to the column select the column and then click the Edit button.

You Can select the following data types:

  • Single Choice:  The contents of the column will be automatically classified as the answers to the question.
  • Numeric, Int32: Select this type for whole numbers (Integers) e.g. 1,2,3
  • Numeric, decimal: Select this type for decimal numbers e.g. 1.5, 2.34, 1345.99
  • Text: These values will be imported as text and not be available for analysis.
  • Date and Time: Values are stored as dates.

You do not have to import all of the columns in your file you can deselect a column by clearing the checkbox on the left.

Once the file is loaded you can then use the import wizard to define your data set.