When running reports within ACR you may want to export the Data generated so that you can manipulate the data or run further analysis on it.
Or you may be trying to update your data using the Export/Import Utility.
Both of these tasks can be done by using either the Output to Disk option for the reports, or the Export function in Export Import Utility.
Using either of these options will create what is called a “Tab Delimited Text File”. This is a type of file that can be opened in a number of computer programs. The most common program used to open Tab Delimited Text files is Microsoft Excel.
When using Excel there are a number of tricks that you can use to make it easier to open and work with these files to preserve the integrity of your data.
Below is a suggested method for opening Tab Delimited Text Files in Microsoft Excel. There are a number of ways to open these files within Excel. Also, the version of Excel you are using may also affect the way you open these files.
1. Select output to Disk or Export your file from ACR. Give the file a name ending in “.txt”. It is also recommended to not have any spaces in the name.
2. Open Excel and select the Open File option.
3. Navigate to your Docs Directory and change the File Types being looked for from All Excel File to All Files.
4. Select the file you wish to open from the list of files.
5. When the Import Wizard opens, it will show Wizard step 1. Select Delimited from the Original Data type and select Next.
6. From the Wizard step 2 make sure it is set to Tab as the Delimiters, and select Next.
7. The Wizard Step 3 allows you to set the type of data each column is.
Note: It is recommended to set any column that has a number in it (like Product ID, or Customer ID, or even a Barcode field) as Text type. This is especially important for columns with Barcodes in them and numbers that begin with 0. Excel will remove leading zero’s and change the format of barcodes if they are not changed to the Data format of text.
Once you have adjusted each column that may need adjusting, select Finish.
